Merle of Fanelia
by Ruinus
Summary: Follows the events of Escaflowne, primarily concerned with Van and Merle's relationship. ATM mild language and violence. CH 25 REVIVE STORY SPELL SUCCESSFUL
1. Avoiding Gaea

**Author's Note: **Yeah, this is a rewrite of "The Dream", which if you want to, can be found by adding **/s/2760566/1/The_Dream** directly after the home URL.

I'm going to attempt to follow the same story I had set about in the original (but I forgot most of it. And most of it wasn't thought out and I made up as I went anyways). I will also, for sure this time, update regularly.

* * *

**_Avoiding Gaea_**

"_It was more like feudal Japan than anything. Well, Fanelia at least. They even had the term "samurai" for their guards, if I remember right."_

A young woman stretched in her chair, surrounded by piles of notes and textbooks, she had quickly realized how late it was, and how much work she had been putting off with her little daydreams. Even with that in mind, she wandered off again.

"_Still, it is an odd coincidence that they're called samurai."_ She looked at her notes in front of her, the Japanese characters neatly written across the page, with highlighted portions signifying great importance. _"I saw a lot of their written language, and none of it looked close to Japanese. Or English, or any language I've ever seen before. So how do two completely different languages end up sounding the same? For that matter, how did I understand anyone there?"_ The young woman lightly tapped a pen on her head, as if to stimulate some profound revelations or ideas. _"Magic?"_ She chuckled to herself. _"I use that explanation far too much. It's not an explanation really, but… I'm drawing blanks here."_

Lately, the young lady's mind had been returning to Gaea, that world where the moon and the Earth hung in the sky. There were lots of memories for her there. Dragons, soldiers, battles and a war. But also good memories, great memories. Tranquil vistas, beautiful mountain ranges, friends. Fanelia. Van.

"_Oh… no." _Her thoughts suddenly turned sour, and she scrambled to turn them back towards fondness. Her heartbeat quickened, and she panicked, unable to turn her attention from a certain prince on Gaea. Finally, she was able to turn her attention to the topic of guymelefs, and just how a planet that seemed to be stuck in the medieval age was able to build, and in Zaibach's case, mass-produce giant armored battle suits. As more questions and theories arose she was happy to find that that certain prince was pushed to the farther corners of her mind.

She sighed, closing her books, reminding herself that she still had a week to finish her assignments.

The truth was that she wanted to think about Van. She wanted to know what he was doing, how her friends on that planet were doing. She wanted, _needed_, to know if he still felt something towards her. Deep down she knew that that certain prince loved her.

And she couldn't bear it.

Because they were apart now. She wasn't naïve or young anymore. She was 23, in college, she had grown up. Her life had changed, her experiences on Gaea had made her grow up much faster than any normal teenager would have. She knew that when she left, she know with absolute certainty, that both of them loved each other. And, in retrospect, she knew falling in love with him was a bad idea. Maybe, if she knew then what she knew now, she wouldn't have allowed it to happen. But… it just did. _"You can't stop those things."_

And it just so happened that one of those things was calling her on the phone. Had she not been lost in thought, she would have heard it. It was only until her best friend, Uchida Yukari*, called out from their dorm living room "Hey Hitomi, I just got a message from Genji, he says "Pick up the phone!""

Hitomi Kanzaki, the college student, suddenly felt very stupid. She knew he was going to call her today, but had forgotten to turn on her cellphone, wanting to her day to herself and half a semester's worth of World History 400 notes. A few seconds later, her phone in her hand, she was sharing a conversation with Genji Serisawa. A fellow classmate Yukari, Amano and her had met in their first year at Toudai.**

He was also Hitomi's boyfriend.

"I'm sorry Van."

"What was that?" Genji asked, barely hearing her words.

"Oh, nothing." She changed the subject, mentally scolding herself for letting that slip out. "So, how was your day Genji-sweetie?"

It was not until an hour later, after she had said goodbye to her boyfriend, that Hitomi realized something.

She doesn't love Van anymore.

Not in the same way, at least.

She didn't mean for this to happen, really. At least, that's what she told herself. When Hitomi had returned from Gaea, she was still in love with Van Fanel, the man who had saved her and helped her through that terrible war. She would, in her daydreams or moments of happiness, see his vision before her. She would picture him the same way she always did in her mind. His old red shirt that hung loosely around his body, and his tight pants, brown leather boots and gloves that protected his hands and feet from the harshness of combat and the elements, his unruly messy hair, and his eyes. When she first met him, those eyes seemed harsh, uncaring, and arrogant even. But over time, they softened, and showed compassion, love and warmth. She sometimes thought she could even hear him, in her times of need. When she felt alone, scared, lonely. She couldn't actually talk to him, _"Wouldn't have that been nice?" _but she felt his presence. As if he was there to put a hand on her shoulder, or a hug around her body.

She knew she loved him, she truly did. It wasn't a small schoolgirl crush, such as one she shared with Amano, then Allen… _"Then Amano again, then Allen, then Van, then Allen again…"_ Hitomi inwardly scolded herself for being so fickle in her younger days.

She also scolded herself for allowing reality to settle in.

She first started noticing it during her final years of high school, and the realization hit her during the fun and brief vacation she had in-between Kamakura-Kita High School* and Tokyo University. Her dream of undying love for Van Fanel began to meet the cold harsh bitch that is reality. It happened when Yukari, Amano and her were all filling out their applications to Tokyo University. They began chatting, asking each other what their planned major would be, where they would go afterwards, their plans. Yukari and Amano, to the surprise of Hitomi (although she shouldn't have been surprised really) planned out their schedule to be exactly the same, only showing Hitomi how much their relationship had grown, and reminding her of Van at the same time. It was, however, after this, when Yukari began to teasingly drop hints that she already had her and Amano's life all planned out that the conversation took a turn for the worse for Hitomi. While her two friends jokingly bickered about differing opinions on their future (where they would live, whether or not they would have pets, and other silly things young couples hope to plan but never quite do) Hitomi began to think about her and Van. The cold hard facts started to sink in.

Van was on a completely different planet. Or maybe planet wasn't the right word. After all, how could Earth's astronomers (or anyone else for that matter) miss Gaea hanging in space if it simply was another planet?

The point remained, she had no way of getting back to him. Seeing his image, feeling his presence, those were all normal things, things that even non-psychic people could do. _Anyone_ could see their loved one in front of them and _anyone_ could think about them in their times of need. The love between Van and Hitomi wasn't special in that sense. And even if she could, somehow, miraculously, find her way back, what then? Live with him on a foreign world, abandoning her friends and family back here? Just what would she do if they broke up? She'd be stuck there, unless the same miracle that brought her there would bring her back. What if she got sick? She remembered a brush with some sort of poisonous substance back on Gaea, but it wasn't too serious.

"_What if it was more serious? A broken bone, a flu, a virus… a plague?"_

During her stay on Gaea, she had never thought about the horrors that trouble even modern Earth, and she doubted Gaean medicine could do anything during a serious emergency.

"_What if our relationship worked out? What if I was Queen of Fanelia? How would I have children?"_

Those thoughts had also crossed her mind. She knew, as most people did, from her Health classes that childbirth was a painful process, even with modern medicine, equipment and knowledge. And she knew the grim dark fact that even today, in developed countries, women who had come _so_ close to being mothers, died during childbirth. Just where would she have children on Gaea? In a castle, surrounded by hard, unventilated, crushing stone and marble walls? With no running water? With no medicine to help her? With no real trained professional doctors to be there, in case of another emergency?

"_Do they even have condoms on Gaea?"_

That thought too, entered her mind as a blush appeared across her face. If they didn't… well their first time together would have ended in pregnancy. And she was already frightened by the idea of a Gaean pregnancy. These train of thoughts left the unspoken question _"Van isn't even human, could we even have babies together?" _all the way at the back of her mind.

Not only that, but she thought about her. What would she do there, on that world? Sit, and govern a nation? Would she try, like Dornkirk did, to bring science to those people? Would she know how?

Slowly, over time, she cursed the conditions Van and her had been thrust into. Their worlds were incompatible. And, on a deeper look, _they_ were incompatible. Their love could exist in her dreamy romanticized version of Gaea and nowhere else.

"_Why did I ever let myself think that? Why did I ever let myself believe Gaea was some fantasy world straight out of a cheap novel? Why didn't I face facts?"_ She honestly wondered why this was. Most of her time on Gaea was spent running from terror, blood, swords, screams, war and death. Her first _day_ there she saw the near genocide of Fanelians. She shuddered.

And so, realizing it simply couldn't work out with Van, she moved on. She fell in love with Genji Aono*, a funny, handsome and intelligent man. She loved him dearly, and didn't regret falling for him.

She did, however, regret not being able to tell Van.

Because even though she knew she didn't live on that fairy-tale world, Van did.

She feared he wouldn't be able to move on. She feared the truth wouldn't sink in for him as it had for her. She feared, deeply feared, that he would live his life alone, with no love anymore. Fanelia would be without an heir, and then what? _It would wither and die._ _"Van is smarter than that."_ She would say to herself, but, was he? Had the story of how his father ignored royalty and protocol for his true love, the Draconian he met in a lake, made up Van's mind for him? Would he seek out that wonderful and almost fantastical story with him and Hitomi? She hoped not.

She hoped he would move on.

Hitomi smiled, a small glimmer of hope shining in her.

"_No, Merle would never let that happen."_

And with that, Hitomi went to sleep, settling her fears in her mind, completely unaware that her words had more than one interpretation.

* * *

Short, I know, but I didn't want to show both Earth and Gaea in the same chapter, I thought that might be a little much, especially for the first page.

* Yukari Uchida is how her name shows up on the Escaflowne wiki. But I'm not sure if that is the Westernized version. Aren't Japenese names spelled last-name first? So would it be Uchida Yukari, or Yukari Uchida? Any help is appreciated.

**Toudai is short for Tokyo University. I learned this from Love Hina.


	2. Aftermath

_**Aftermath**_

Van Fanel was tired. His entire body ached from working amongst the still ruined areas of Fanelia, carrying and moving brick, mortar and wood as he joined in on the reconstruction work, as he had been doing every day since his people, or the survivors of his people, had slowly began to wander back to their home.

The first year had been the hardest.

The survivors had to struggle with the task of reconstructing a nation, albeit a small one, with little to no funds, most of the Fanelian treasury having been burned in the fire, and most of their crops, or those they could afford to trade, being carefully measured down into what could be traded and what would feed the people. There was also the problem of protection. While some of the guardsmen had survived the Dragonslayer attack during Van's coronation ceremony, many guymelefs, swords, armor and other equipment did not. Wolves and land dragons had infested and thrived in the Fanelian countryside and ruins while the city was abandoned and roving bands of mercenaries or bandits, or, more sadly, desperate people who had been displaced by the war, had been a nuisance and more often than not, violence followed and even more were lost. The survivors were in a horrible situation, and every night Van and his advisors, some old and some new, would meet and decide between 'eating tomorrow and dying in the cold or being pillaged', 'starving and dying in the cold, but being protected, or 'starving and defenseless, but with adequate shelter.' Needless to say, many did not survive, and many, disillusioned with the war that was still ravaging Gaea, for the Zaibach Empire didn't immediately disappear with the death of Dornkirk, had left.

They either died, or they left.

But the end result was the same, less people to help those who stayed and still lived, breathed, and loved. Those that stayed, Van thought, were strong. They didn't give up on each other, they wanted to see their homes restored, and they wanted to live in peace. They had each other, they had their king, and they had friends. Milerna successfully talked her father into sending aid to Fanelia; relief workers, food, materials, and even some soldiers for protection, of which Allen and the crew of the _Crusade_ had gladly volunteered. The Dukedom of Freid had also sent aid, though King Chid admitted in a private letter, not as much as he had hoped, and Dryden, to the surprise and despair of his father and financial advisors, had dug into his private funds and sent a small fortunes worth of gold, jewelry and other valuables that would boost Fanelia's own treasury or be used in trade and commerce.

_Fanelia is growing again and I owe it all to my friends._

Van stretched his body and yawned, his body still tired and yearning for sleep. He wandered into his room, once his parent's room, and sat at his desk. There, arranged in a neat pile, was a stack of papers. Requests for supplies needed, forms tallying the expenditures for the day, week, and month. Small contract writs with small construction companies operated from Asturia, and so on. Van sighed deeply, _The paperwork is worse than the actual labor._

He began sorting through them, stamping some of them with the royal seal, or reading them over. Some, the ones he dreaded the most, required him to do some mathematics, something which, he admitted embarrassedly, was something he was ill-prepared to do. "I should hire some scholars…" he said to no one but himself, before opening a desk drawer in hopes of finding some paper and quills to work out some solutions.

Instead he found, shiningly softly in the pale moonlight, the pendant that Hitomi had left with him.*

"Hitomi."

He reached in and pulled it out, looking at the pendant with soft eyes, holding it as if it was the most delicate thing in the world. Slowly he held it up and swung it gently, his eyes following side to side as it yet again kept perfect time…**

It was only after a few seconds that he realized he was holding it up against the Mystic Moon, and that it was once again shining brightly.

His heart leaped immediately, a small idea forming at the back of his head that this would signal her return. They would be reunited and the-

-!

A small sound from outside his window caught his attention, and he slowly stood up, his ears listening intently for any further sounds. His free hand was slowly reaching for the sword at his side, while the other closed itself firmly over Hitomi's pendant. He continued to stare out the window when suddenly a small sweet bread fell past it.

Van stood deathly still as his mind processed _A sweet bread fell past my window._

Then, sure of the cause of such an odd event, he asked, "Merle?"

"Mmmrh Mmph!"

Van sighed yet again, easing his stand and letting go of his blade. "What are you doing out there Merle?"

Suddenly his childhood friend dropped from her perch on the roof and unto his windowsill, which was dangerously close to his balcony which he suspected wasn't entirely stable, since he had ordered the repairs to the castle being regulated to a secondary concern.

Merle, still sitting on the windowsill, looked down, watching as the previous sweet bread bounced off of the balcony and continued falling down, crumbling little by little as it did so. Its descent finally halted by a convenient crack in one of the rooftops, getting lodged in place.

"Rmh mmh. Rmmhp mh-"

She stopped when she saw Van couldn't understand a word of it. "Merle, why don't you take that bread out of your mouth?"

_Oh that's right! I brought two breads!_

She flashed him a cheeky grin, taking the bread she was biting on to and handing it to him, "Here Lord Van, I got you some sweet bread from one of the merchants that passed by today! You deserve it." Van smiled, taking the bread from her hands, then looking back up at her and asking "But, was that other bread, the one that fell, for you?" "Well, yeah, but I stumbled on some of the rooftops and it fell… but don't worry Lord Van, you need it more than I do."

Van slightly shook his head, laughing on the inside, "Here Merle, we'll share." And with that, he sat on his bed, and parted the bread in two, handing her the part that was already in her mouth, and biting into his own piece. Sitting down next to him they began eating their bread in silence, simply enjoying each other's company. She looked over at him, and saw that even thought he was up late and eating with her, he could have just as easily said 'I'm sorry Merle, but I'm tired. I want to go to sleep.' or 'Merle, not today, I want to have some time alone.' He could have easily said anything like that, and he could have easily, and rightfully, kept the bread to himself, he shared, and was kind.

_You've always been kind to me Lord Van._

Her heart fluttered, and forgetting that it was improper to be in his room this late at night, she curled up at his side, making small idle chatter with him. It was then that she noticed something in his hand.

"Lord Van."

"Yes Merle?"

"What's that in your hand? Can I see it?"

Looking back at his hand, Van slowly and reluctantly uncurled his fingers from the necklace, letting the moonlight shine on it once again. Merle looked at the pendant, and then at his eyes. Her heart, which was happily bounding inside her just a few seconds ago calmed down, sadness slowing its pace.

"You miss her, don't you Lord Van?" _You love her don't you?_

…

He didn't respond. Putting her hand over his, she whispered, "I miss her too. Nearly a year and a half is a long time to be away from someone you care for."

* * *

*I'm pretty sure Hitomi left that pendant with Van, even with a nagging feeling at the back of my mind telling me I might be wrong.

** ... and blatantly laughing in the face of physics. That necklace shouldn't be able to keep time like that, it's impossible. Sure maybe on Gaea it has special 'magic' powers, but on Earth it was laughing its ass off as such irrelevant concepts such as 'gravity', 'energy loss due to friction' 'damping forces' and 'impossible!' silently wept in a corner and dug their own graves.


	3. Red

**_Red_**

Van woke up at the crack of dawn, as the morning sun barely shone through his window above his desk. Standing up and stretching his body, he looked over to his bed where his best friend Merle still lay curled up and sleeping peacefully, breadcrumbs littered about. She had fallen asleep before he did when he decided to give her his bed, covering her with his blanket, while he would sleep at his desk. Though this had happened a few times before, and he was used to sleeping at his desk from long nights of paperwork, and had slept in less comfortable places, his desk's hard wood construction, high headrest and stiff armrests always left him waking up tired, uncomfortable and… weighed down.

Van loved Fanelia, but sometimes he could feel the weight of responsibility towards all those men, women and children, the dead and dying he had failed, and felt as if it was crushing him. Sleeping in that chair always gave him horrible dreams, filled with failure, calamity and the uncertainty of tomorrow.

Van shrugged, and pushed those thoughts towards the only place they belonged, nowhere near his mind. _It's just that old chair, _he thought, and turned his attention back to his sleeping companion. Truthfully he was always quite fond of times when she would sleep in his room since he was able to steal admiring glances at her, something he would never do while she was awake, feeling that such looks were inappropriate, especially to such an old and dear friend. The other reason he liked her sleeping in his room was because he knew where she was. Not only was he so used to her company that her absence felt _wrong_ somehow, but knowing she was in his room let him know that she was safe and sound, not out in her-

Van was suddenly stumped. He didn't know where she slept. In all the years they had known each other, he had never once bothered to ask where she lived. He knew she was never formally accepted as part of the royal house, so she wasn't given any quarters in the castle. She had friends in town, but did any of them offer her shelter or a room? _Does she sleep in the streets? On the castle roof?_ Van hoped this was not the case.

He looked at her, peacefully swimming in her dreams, a smile on her face.

"Oh Merle. You've been with me all my life, but I don't really know anything about you."

His shoulders slumped, ashamed that he had taken her company for granted all his time. And yet she stayed by his side, why? _What do I give her in return? When she is with me, I never ask her how she feels, what she thinks. I just… ignore her._

_Stupid fool._

He had a new look of determination on his face. _From now on,_ he vowed, _I am going to ask, I am going to know._ Current conditions and events in the world made life hard enough on everyone in his kingdom, and he knew that she couldn't be carefree or without hardships. Whether she said it or not, Van knew she must have things on her mind, and he wouldn't allow himself to simply let her sit in silence near him, or let her ask him what was onhis mind, his troubles, his fears. _I am going to be a better friend, she deserves that much._

He leaned down and brushed some hair out of her head, and then gently put a small kiss on her cheek. He then left the room, heading down to the throne room where no doubt is advisors awaited him with a list of tasks or papers that had to be done for the day.

As he left his room, Merle, who had actually woken up earlier than Van and was simply faking sleep, stood up, her eyes at the door were her secret love once stood, and her hand over the spot where he had placed a friendly loving kiss. She had learned a while ago that Van would look at her while she was asleep, and while at first the thought of him doing that struck her as odd, she knew he would never look at her in a lecherous way, he was simply too shy, or perhaps he had another reason, to give her an admiring glance while she was aware of it. _He hasn't really been around girls._ Merle thought, _Millerna doesn't count, she's a princess and promised to someone else. They never really had any time to become real friends. And Hitomi…_ Merle felt a slight tinge of jealousy, thought she missed her friend dearly, _Hitomi... well Hitomi didn't really have a feminine figure. Short hair, no womanly features. What does Lord Van see in her anyways?_

Merle smiled, making fun of her friend had always cheered her up. Even when she was with Hitomi on their travels across Gaea, during the war, she always made fun of Hitomi. She always made fun of things that made her sad.

She shook her head, trying not to think about the girl who had stolen Van's heart away from right under everyone's noses, and noticed that as she did so, bread crumbs fell from her hair unto the bed, where they collected with another gathering of bread crumbs.

"Oh no, I left crumbs all over his bed!" Merle exclaimed to the empty room and herself, "I'd better clean this up." Standing up she pulled the bed sheets over to the balcony where she hoped to air them out, dropping the crumbs on the roof would be better than leaving them in his room, unless Van enjoyed sleeping in a bed along with a few hundred black ants swarming all over his body.

She looked over the sheets, and noticed that they were very high quality. The fabric was soft and warm, a deep red color, with the crest of Fanelia and other designs sown in with gold embroidery. It was a wonder that it had escaped the hands of pillagers and thieves who had visited Fanelia.

She continued to pat off the bread crumbs from the sheets, airing them out in the cool breeze. She began to drift off into a daydream, ones she had been experiencing more frequently, and as her attention was drawn towards less than proper thoughts about her and Lord Van, something which she was slightly ashamed and embarrassed about, she accidently let go of the bed sheets and stupidly watched as they flew off. She traced its graceful arcs across the sky, moving this way and that as it began to succumb to air resistance and gravity.

Merle was petrified, she knew that Van's bed sheets were one of the few things that survived the fires, and were his favorites. "I can't let those simply up and fly away!" and with that, she jumped out of the window landing gracefully on the lower roofs below her. Merle had long ago taken to running along the rooftops of the castle, both as a way to visit Lord Van without having to deal with some of the snobbier royal house servants, and to secretly spy on him while he moved about. In all those years she had her share of falls, scrapes, bruises and trip ups, but that was no more. Now, an expert at running about the Fanelian city rooftops Merle spirited herself across the vast roof of the castle, her gaze intent on the sheets as they slowly fell to earth.

Had her gaze been not been fixed in the sky, but rather on the various warning signs of "Unstable buildings ahead" and "Construction work ahead".

Down in the still ruined areas of Fanelia Van stood in front of a small makeshift tent along with several men. They were looking over an old copy of the city plans of Fanelia, along with another copy, this one scribbled over to show the position of toppled buildings, rubble, inaccessible areas and the like. Next to these two old papers was a new one. This new map, they all knew, detailed how Fanelia will look, sometime in the future, once all the rebuilding has been complete. _"A new Fanelia."_ Van thought, still, that would take a while, first they must clear out all the unstable old ruins, gather new materials, and then construct them. With the current state of the economy, this rebuilding would take months, perhaps even years. But, it had to start somewhere.

And that's what they were here to do.

The building ahead of them, the one flanked with by two _Destructore_-type guymelefs was scheduled for demolition, the building condemned, sealed off and empty. After Van had taken off his work gloves and pressed the Royal Ring of the Fanelian Crest into the hot wax seal, signaling the approval of the demolition. The foreman signaled the OK to the wrecking crew, who, in turn, signaled the two pilots of the guymelefs that their job had officially started. Once they were inside their cockpits, they began to pivot the torsos of their guymelefs, momentum being transferred over to the _Destructore_'s 'arms', which were comprised entirely of heavy chains with even heavier iron wrecking balls. As the powerful pistons in the _Destructores_ swung their torsos back into place the wrecking balls followed and went on, smashing into what had been identified as a 'load bearing structure'. These structures, flying buttresses that ran up the sides of the building, splintered apart into thousands of tiny pieces of debris. As the targeted structures failed, the weight of the building's elaborately sculpted upper floors and roof began to press down on the unstable floors beneath entire building let out groans and trembled, its frame collapsing, breaking under the stress of all the hardships from Zaibach's attack, to negligence, to a wrecking crew. As the wrecking crew drew farther away from the collapsing building, the Fanelian reconstruction had enough fatal accidents already, Van looked up. He felt a pang of sorrow. This building was constructed by a group of missionaries a long time ago, deep in Fanelia's past. Whatever convictions the missionaries held did not spread to the rest of the people in Fanelia, and as such, the building was largely unvisited even in its prime. _I never understood this place,_ thought Van, looking over the building for one last time, _and never visited, but I will miss those statues on- Merle?_

High above him was Merle, who had been struggling to free Van's bed sheets from the mouth of a statue that dominated an arch built just in front of a bell tower. Her footing was already on dubious terms, but when the entire building began to shake, sway and fall apart at the seams, the bell behind her shook loose from its place, falling and smashing into the floor beneath it, sending shards of wood and ceramic in all directions. It was a few of these shards who's trajectory found their way into Merle's left arm and back, the pain causing her to fall over, and had it not been for her quick reflexes, she would have fallen to her death.

"Merle!"

Not thinking twice, Van ran out from the tent and summoned his wings, which exploded in a cloud of feathers and fabric as they tore through his shirt, and flew with all his speed, towards his dear friend, smaller shards of glass, wood, ceramic and mortal falling across his face as the entire building began descending towards the earth below it, ears were almost deafened by the cracking twisting and roaring sounds as the building literally fell apart beside him, he speed up, and grabbed Merle in his arms and pulled away, the red sheets ripping in two as he did so, though no one would have heard the sound against the greater commotion.

They descended amidst a cloud of rubble and dust. Thought he couldn't see very well, Van felt the chilling sensation of blood running down his arms and chest, and hoped it was his own. About them there were various onlookers, the construction crew and advisors, plus some villagers who were passing through. They were impotent for the majority of the accident, after all, none of them could fly, and what could they very well do that wouldn't have put more people in danger, but seeing their King descend, along with his best friend, they immediately sprang into action. Towels, water, bandages were brought, they couldn't' beat to lose their King, or lose another one of their fellow villagers, another Fanelian. The graveyards were full enough.

A _doctore_ from Asturia, a new profession that combined anatomy, physiology, medicinal science and critial thinking, rushed to the scene. There, once Van had refused all treatment until his friend the _gata_ had been treated first, did he discover she had been impaled by a large plank of wood, and several smaller cuts about her body, a major one along her right arm. His eyes widened in shock, "We have to get her to the hospital now!"

Merle, half in shock from terror and blood loss, could only think of returning Van's favorite red bed sheets, and she looked, her vision blurry and giving out, and saw figures about her, shouting and screaming, distantly, when another figure, clearer than all the rest, appeared. _Lord Van!_ He put a hand on her cheek as she raised her trembling hands at him, holding the remainder of the sheets, stained red from old dyes and blood, hers and Van's.

"Lord Van, your favorite… they survived the fires. Lord Van?"

They figures, even Van's, grew more clouded and hazy, their shouts distant. She became colder.

"Lord Van?"


	4. Rotseepers

**Author's Note: **Yeah... Anyways, a busted computer and a new repalcement later, and I get back to this. Hopefully people are still reading. (But they are probably not.) But whatever, I want to finish this either way.

In case you also didn't notice, this chapter replaced an older chapter called Waiting Room. I didn't like how that chapter jived, and so this is now in it's place.

* * *

**_Rotseepers_**

Merle looked at the flowers that sat by the window, light coming in and gracefully draping the flowers in a morning glow. It was, admittedly, all she could look at to keep her mind of the awful taste and smell of the herbal medicine she had to eat. And looking at the flowers, she had quickly decided, were far better than looking at the disgusting wound she had on her arm, where the rotted wood and fungus had slashed her skin open. And she did not dare think of the frightful remedy the _doctores_ had implemented to clean away her skin of infected areas.

Merle shivered inwardly, "Ugh I hate bugs. Why did it have to be bugs?"

But the "rotseeper larvae" the _doctores_ had said "must stay. They clean the wound, and will eat away the trace amounts of fungus still in those cuts. They can come out in a day or so."

"At least they don't move so much." She reminded herself. At that moment however, one of the suckers on her arm decided to twitch, and a small squeal reached Merle's hypersensitive ears. She did not want to look at whatever delighted the disgusting vermin.

So Merle kept her gaze on the beautiful sight of the flowers that sat by the window. So clear her mind of the squeal, and the sounds of coughing and the distant cries of a man in surgery, she hummed an old tune, one native to Fanelia.

Amidst the sounds of the sick, the distant screams of the dying, the soft weeping of others, and the terrible smells and tastes, Merle focused all her gaze on the flowers by the window sill, and on her tune. One that she had been taught by Van's mother long ago, when she was small, when she had first fallen for Van, and when Fanelia and most of its people were still alive. Before her mind went to more somber thoughts the door to her room opened, and in walked Van, as slowly as he could, obviously not seeing or hearing that his precious friend was awake.

"Merle?" his voice called out softly, afraid to wake her if she was resting. "Merle?" he called again, to confirm if she was asleep.

She, however, flashed a quick grin, one Van did not see, and faked being asleep. She had done this a few times before, after she discovered that Van was quite different when she wasn't watching him. His behavior wasn't entirely different; in fact it was an almost unnoticeable change. But she saw it. He would look at her with worry, and, with a bit more care than he would normally show. She had assumed it was because of her recent accident, that he was just still in shock about the possibility of losing her and that, as soon as she was better, he would go back to treating her just like before.

Not that he treated her badly, he was kind and patient and caring.

But right now, as Merle sensed he was sitting in the chair next to her, stroking her hair and checking her wounds, she loved the attention. She had, for a rare turn in recent times, his entire attention focused on her.

She suddenly felt guilt when the muffled wailings returned to her ears. She heard Van shift in his seat, and could tell he was uncomfortable.

_Here he is, in this room with me, when his people outside are in pain and dying._

She suddenly felt guilty; she was making him stay here longer than he needed to. He was more important than this; he had to be out there.

She turned on her side, away from him, and curled up, her usual sleeping position that showed she was quite comfortable. Her face now away from Van, she opened her eyes, and tried to peer around the corner of her vision to see if Van got the hint.

_I'm ok Van. Go back and help Fanelia._

Unfortunately, Van took her shifting as a sign that she was having trouble sleeping, or was hurt. He stood up and walked around the bed, looking at her, trying to see if he could discern her mood from her facial expression. Again, he checked her over, seeing if her injury was causing any trouble.

_Oh no! He's looking at my wound!_

Merle was immediately embarrassed; she had tried keeping herself clean, nice and fresh throughout the entirety of her life, all for Van. All through their childhood, and all through their adventures through Gaea, and even now, in her homeland where running water and showers were a luxury to most. It was a woman thing; no woman wants to be caught by the man she loves while she feels dirty, unwashed, and smelly and, in her case, with maggots eating away at toxic fungus that clogged her wounds.

_I want to die right now. Van can never see me as attractive anymore._

She attempted to retreat from Van's gaze by huddling into herself, which simply gave him the impression that she was sick, and the blush of embarrassment that was creeping across her face and her rising temperature simply solidified that thought in his mind.

_Oh no! I can never be pretty for him anymore! How could I possibly be? He'll look at me and remember the time I lay in a stinking bed, bloody bandages near me and… _things _crawling around my arm._

One of the things currently attached to her wounds let out a disgusting shriek, causing Merle to shiver.

Van must have heard the vile thing to, because he looked more closely at the terrible tear along her arm. He had no chance, or mind, to appreciate her tanned skin or the markings all _gatas_ had along their body. He closely examined the larvae, and noticed something odd.

"Huh, it looks like all the fungus is gone. I think they are just eating part of the unaffected wound now. I should-"

Van had no time to continue his sentence, or to properly form his thought to call the _doctores_ in to examine the creatures, because at that moment Merle shot up right and immediately tried swatting the _things_ eating away at her arm. When her hand made contact with the _things_ bodies, an expression of abject disgust crossed her face, and instead of swiftly swatting away all of them in one graceful move, she had to repeatedly pick them off of her body, swiftly and haphazardly. Van watched as the cat girl franticly tossed the larvae about the room, screaming.

A _doctore_ suddenly barged into the room "What's going on?" he shouted, fearing the screams were a sign of trouble. His professional stewardship was rewarded with one of the _things_ landing in his face, and promptly bouncing off and landing on the ground, where it continued writhing and screeching.

"_Doctore_, she's just woken up. I don't think she likes the rotseepers." Van said, pointing at some of the rotseeper larvae on the floor which looked sad to be removed from their source of food.

Merle shuddered, "Ugh, even their names are disgusting."

"Well, Miss Merle," the _doctore_ said, a hint of anger in his voice, probably from having a rotseeper thrown in his face, "these disgusting things are quite valuable, and without them you would have died. They are very useful in remo-oh darn. I stepped on one." The _doctore_ looked down when he heard the squish noise of the fattest rotseeper larvae bursting underneath his boot. A look of annoyance at losing a valuable medical tool crossed his face.

Merle inwardly cheered, "Good. I hate those things."

"_Doctore_" Van interrupted, "I think the rotseepers are useless now. I believe she has no more of the dreadful growth in her."

The _doctore_ walked over to her, and examined her wound. "Yes, they've finished all the fungus. All that is left now is for the cut to heal, and after that, she is free to go. You can leave now, if you wish. In fact," the _doctore_ looked at them both, "her wounds are pretty inconsequential at this moment. They still have to heal, and may cause some pain, but without the fungus plaguing her body it is no longer life-threatening as it once was. And honestly, I want to use this room to start housing some of the people from the accident today. So if you would please?"

Van was about to speak when Merle cut in first.

"Yes _doctore_, I shall leave immediately. Thank you for saving my life."

Her act of maturity, she figured, would be her way to mask her amazing and childish fear of those _things_.

_Maybe Lord Van will see me as mature and refined this way. Hopefully it will make up for earlier._

She attempted to stand up, when she noticed she was in a simple white gown. She had missed it before, she didn't bother looking under the sheets in the time she was in that room, she feared seeing if she had more of those _things_ near more delicate and private parts of her body. Thankfully there weren't, but she now noticed that she didn't see any of her clothing in sight.

"Oh," Van spoke up, moving to a nearby cabinet and retrieving her clothing, her nail filer, and the new shorts she wore. He gave them to her, explaining "the _doctores_ find that it's easier to treat patients if their wear the hospital gowns, clothing that is at the site of the accident could be bloody, or contaminated."

"I've never heard of that before," Merle says as she slips off her white gown and puts on her new clothes, aware that Van immediately turned away from her, "these _doctore_ guys are kinda weird don't you think Lord Van?"

"Well, apparently they use knowledge from Zaibach and other areas just as advanced.* They may seem odd to us now, but I hear from some scholars that these _doctores_ give impressive results. People live longer and healthier in the more advanced countries. Maybe, they say, _doctores_ will become common practice, even replacing herbalists and medicine men."**

"How odd. I just hope we can stop calling them by their odd tongue. Why can't we just say medicine man, or something along those lines Lord Van?"

"Respect, I guess. Their profession comes from lands that don't use our tongue. By the way, you call me Lord Van, and even around here they call me Lord Fanel." Van now hoped Merle was completely dressed, after all, she didn't wear much. He turned around in time to see her pull up her underwear, and noticed himself staring. He looked away quickly, catching and scolding himself for looking at Merle in such a way.

"So?" Merle asked, having caught his stare and smiled.

_Yes! I still got it._

"Well, there is nothing stopping anyone from simply calling me by my name, but I guess... it's respect, either for my or my position. I'm royalty, alot of people, including you, would never just walk up to me and call me by my first name. Even you add "Lord" to my name. Most of the time my actual last name is dropped entirely for Fanel."

"Well, that's easy. Slanzar is a common last name here," Merle said, trying to adjust her dess straps so they cover some of her injuries, "so, to distinguish royal Slanzars, namely you, from everyone else you drop your last name and add Fanel as a title."

"Right," he said with a nod. "The descendants I have will also be named Slanzar but they'll use Fanel when introductin themselves. Because there is a different between Slanzars of the royal family and Slanzars who aren't royalty. Same with the doctores and medicine men or herbalists. They all do the same thing, but they are each different specializations."

"Or," Merle said after failing to hide her injuries and accepting their visibility, "just like how we don't call forks spoons or spoons knives? Whatever, it still sounds dumb to me."

Merle, now fully clothed and sporting a few bandages here and there, walks up to Van and hugs him, returning her hug, and feels her wince as he accidentally brushes some of her cuts. "Oh sorry." "It's ok Lord Van," he hears from her somewhat muffled voice, "I would be a lot worse if you hadn't saved me, again."

In an bold act Merle did not think she could pull off, she quickly tiptoes up and kisses his cheek. "Thank you Lord Van."

Not as shocked as Merle expected him to be, Van smiles, "I'll walk you home."

* * *

*I figured that Zaibach was not the only country on Gaea that had reached the Industrial Revolution, or a fascimile of that age. This may not be supported by the actual series itself, but I figured it was like this: Zaibach could not have possibly advanced to it's current state in such a small time frame (I figure it was about either 10 or 20 short years between Newton's arrival and the series itself). As such, Zaibach probably received help and some man power from other regions that were at Zaibach's level of advancement, or near it. Newton probably traded information for machines, men and resources from those other countries. This, in my mind, makes it far more believable than "Man shows up, less than a lifetime later barren lands are vast golden steampunk world."

**Prior to the rise of what we now know as a modern doctor, most people relied on spirituality or some homemade remedies to stave off illness. It didn't work so well.


	5. Under a pile of sheets

_**Under a pile of sheets**_

Merle watched as Lord Van walked along the city of Fanelia. Along the way he greeted many people, his people. She noticed for the umpteenth time since they had re-settled Fanelia that the people were, in spite of the crushing reality of their terrible squalor, quite optimistic and cherry. Some of them wore dirty and worn clothing, more rags than clothing proper, with cloth and straps of leather filling in the function of belts, gloves and shoes. Merle and Van both knew they probably only owned the clothing on their back, and maybe even that was loaned to them by more fortunate friends. But most were well off, their homes had been rebuilt so they had shelter, or they had saved some of their belongings so they were wealthier, some had an education that allowed them to live comfortably well amongst the ruins. In the war torn remnants of Fanelia and Gaea, Van knew, and Merle had a small suspicion of this, that this situation could not continue any longer.

Merle knew this because Fanelia was on the brink of dying. She was there; she had seen it with her own two eyes and heard it with her own two ears. She had seen just how a few of the entire people had escaped the fires, and how even less survived to return. She knew that Fanelia couldn't keep up like this, struggling amongst ruins.

Van however, had told her one day when she caught him in one of his weaker moments, alone in his room in the castle, that the people were turning against each other. He had learned of this recently, and knew that the guards who had been posted to defend the city from invaders and belligerents from the outside now had to round up their own people. Those who had in desperation and sometimes greed, stolen from their fellow neighbors, looted the homes of others and, in two occasions, killed.

And so, Merle knew, that as Van talked and inquired and paused to help with small chores around the city, he was actually attempting to unify his people.

"_If I don't get them to realize we are all on the same side, there could be a revolt on our hands."_

"_A revolt? But… why?"_

"_Things are going fine right now, with the help we are receiving from Asturia, Dryden and Freid. Things are, in fact, getting better. Not fast enough for some though. They think, for some reason, that I can wave my hand and Fanelia, her homes, stores and crops can suddenly come back into existence. As if ashes can rebuild themselves in a day."_

"_Lord Van, you think they might start complaining enough that people will think they are actually right? That we aren't rebuilding fast enough?"_

"_Not right now they won't, but…"_

With that old conversation still in Merle mind, she looked on as Van talked to many people along the way to the Fanelia castle, where Van had, much to Merle's joy, graciously offered to walk her. She noticed, however, that behind the grim reason he was doing so, she knew Van wasn't just using these people. He honestly cared, he had fought too much to not care, and he was interested in not only quelling any problems before they arose, but _also_ reminding his people that he, and everyone was here for them. That they would all help each other and hand in hand would get through this.

As Merle watched him, she realized that she was even more attracted to him than she had ever been before. He had, in the span of a few years, changed so much. He had, frankly, learned to talk much more. Van had, when it was required, a way with words, but he was sometimes too quiet, even for Merle. And Merle loved everything about Lord Van. _It must be,_ she thought as he talked and laughed with some workers who were on break, _that he spends so much time in town now. _She absent mindedly played with the bandage around her arms when her ears perked up when she heard Lord Van drop a few swears in his conversation. She smiled mischievously, _Yup. He spends a lot of time with the construction workers too._ She had realized that he would add more "colorful" language into his everyday tongue soon after he had started working alongside his people. Most of the Fanelians, and she didn't mean this in any negative sort of way, were cuss spitting colorful people. Several "fuck, shit, dammit, crap, _hels_, sumabitch" and "whothehels" were sprinkled liberally in Fanelia conversation. It seemed that the atmosphere was livelier with people speaking their minds, rather than keeping up with "good manners".

She also noted that he had changed in another way. His body.

Long hours working in the construction areas, hauling heavy loads, lifting and hammering had toned his body. He had grown a bit, and his hair, already wild and uncombed, had grown with him. Merle, as always, had stolen glances at him, finding that he looked more and more into what she imagined his future self to be, into the powerful strong man she knew he would become. She never felt guilty about looking at him in a lustful manner; she knew she was nearing her age and that he was too. She knew she had never seen him as "just a friend" and she knew that this was entirely natural. _Gata_ society, what little she knew of it, was much more open about sexual matters. She also knew, of course, that she herself was changing. Her body was becoming shapelier, and her hair too had been allowed to grow freely.

_I wonder if Lord Van has ever looked at me? I wonder if he looks at me the same way he looks at that ?_

Merle was glaring at the girl who had come up and joined Van's little group, and was not enjoying the physical proximity that was being shared by Lord Van and this girl. She didn't care for the flirtatious manner that she was talking to Lord Van with, her giggles, her laughs, her blatant "come closer look" in her eyes, and, above all, the fact that Van wasn't at all attempting to move away from this girl.

_From this hussy._

She coyly walked over to Van, and faked some pain. "Lord Van… sorry to interrupt, but my cuts are hurting…"

She looked down, and dropped her ears and tail, attempting to put a convincing act of injury and pain, and, more specifically, because she couldn't look Van in the eye as she told him a blatant lie.

"If you will excuse me," Van started, gesturing to the faking catgirl beside him, "my friend here is injured, I must take her home and tend to her injuries. Good day."

"Awww, do you have to hun?" the flirtatious girl protested Van's excuse, grabbing him by the arm, wanting him to stay rooted in his spot, right next to her.

_Hun? Who does she think she is? She can't talk to-_

"Angela, mind your manners. You can't talk to Lord Fanel that way." Someone, probably one of the construction workers scolded her. Merle was secretly glad for this and struggled to hide her smile. "Thank you for talking to us Lord Fanel. Swing by later, we can share a drink, non-alcoholic!" A round of laughter erupted, all poking fun at Van's refusal to ever drink any sort of spirits that caused drunkenness. Several rude jokes and more laughter erupted, followed by the same construction worker scolding the group for talking out of turn to their king. Van politely excused himself and offered an arm to Merle, thinking she required support to walk.

Merle of course, faked even more pain, asked: "Lord Van, I think this sudden walking around and cool weather made me dizzy after resting so long, could you… I need help walking?" She looked up at Van expectantly, and was rewarded when he nodded and put an arm around her waist for support.

Cat calls and hollering were heard behind them from the group they had just departed.

A mean grin crossed Merle's face as she imagined that Angel-Angie-_whateverhernameis_ and the look on her face as Van basically carried her to the giant castle.

_I win again hussy!_

They walked in relative silence the rest of the way, Van still nodding and greeting people who passed by, and buying small trinkets at some of the stores, "To stimulate the economy" he said. They passed the entrance to the castle, which was a raised courtyard that lay ahead of the main building of the castle. Some of the royal banners had been replaced, "We have to maintain some semblance of a government" a royal servant had said, and Van looked over in anger at the rickety scaffolding that had been hastily erected along several walls of the castle. Van had, when the rebuilding started, strictly mentioned that he did not want any work, beyond what was necessary to stabilize the building, done on the castle. He had even gone so far as to decree that the castle would be the last thing to be restored, he could not "in good conscious" sleep in a fully refurbished castle while his people lived in dilapidated and burnt halls. Ignoring it for the time being, and making a mental note to discourage further working on the castle.

"You know Lord Van; you shouldn't get mad at them for trying to rebuild the castle." Merle piped in, somehow reading his thoughts.

He sighed and slumped his shoulders, "Yes, I know, but…"

They left that unspoken, and continued on their way. They entered the castle, passing a few open hallways and rooms that were missing a wall, or a roof. Sunlight filtered in through some of the cracks, and wild flowers were growing inside some of the rooms. Merle commented that some of this new remodeling actually looked quite beautiful, and suggested that some of the rooms be left like this, both as a historical memento of sorts and as an indoor garden. Van had said he'd talk it over with some of the planers, after all, some of the walls and roofs that had been collapsed were load bearing, and there was still the danger of collapse. He had said, however, that some of the rooms that contained the makeshift graves of people would be kept as they are, or they might, if they got the approval of the fallen's families, be moved into one indoor open roof cemetery. They both remembered an advisor complaining, an indoor cemetery would invite, in his words, "the villagers to walk in whenever they pleased, as if they owned the palace!" and Merle giggled at the memory of Van's righteous and angry reply "Of course the people own the palace! They lived and died along some of the staff you idiot!"

They made their way to Merle's room, which was not too far from Van's room, much to the formers merriment. And Van sat her down on the bed while he looked over her bandages again.

"Well," he said his expertise with injuries and treatment at the forefront of his mind, "these cuts aren't _too_ bad, at worst they'll leave a small scar. On the other hand," he said quite happily, "you won't get any more trouble from them."

"A small scar?" Merle's ears and tail dropped in disappointment; she looked over the cuts on her arm, and tried craning her head to see the slightly larger cut near her shoulder. _I already have enough trouble getting Lord Van to notice me, and these scars won't help. I hope they heal._

Van noticed his friend's downed mood, and smiled. He was not stupid, and could guess at her sorrow. "Don't worry Merle; you'll still be pretty, even if you have some scars." A giant blush appeared over her face, and her ears dropped from embarrassment rather than sadness, which was a subtle if cute change. Van smiled, and before he would let his friend thank him for the compliment, which to her ears was much greater than he knew, he had to scold her for her bad behavior.

"By the way Merle," he said, bringing her back from her bliss, "that was pretty bad, what you did back there."

_No way he knows._

"Wha- what do you mean Lord Van?" She said, chuckling and laughing, trying to play off her nervousness at being seen through so easily.

"What you did to Angela. Just because you are jealous she was flirting with me is no reason to suddenly barge in like that."

_Eck._

"Well" he continued, sitting down next to her, Merle slightly leaning closer to him now that his weight shifted the bed, "I suppose you did it in a somewhat tactful manner, but still Merle. You shouldn't worry about stuff like that." He looked over at his friend, who was attempting to bury herself in her covers. "Lord Van" she said from beneath the small heap of fabric she was building atop herself, "I have no clue what you are talking about."

_Maybe, just maybe, if I cover myself up in these sheets I'll disappear and be able to hide here from Lord Van. Just me and my embarrassment._

"Merle", his voice called out, somewhat muffled out by the pillow Merle had placed over her head, "I know."

_No way he knows._

"I know you like me Merle."

_Oh shit he knows._


	6. Small Difference

_**Small Difference**_

It was, in Merle's mind, probably the most embarrassing moment of her life. Here she was, fresh out of the smelly hospital, where _things_ were eating away at even worse things that was infecting her body, with cuts on her back that might leave scars _and_ the Van, the love of her life and closest friend, knew she loved him.

She also hadn't showered since she entered the hospital, and that was two or three days ago.

But her concerns over her unfaltering good personal hygiene were secondary to Van's awareness of her secret.

He knows he loved her.

_He knows!_

Actually, he knew she _liked_ him.

The difference between _liking_ someone and _loving_ them is vast, bordering on immeasurable, and for once Merle preferred the fact that her Lord Van was still in the dark about this small difference. She could stave off death from embarrassment by consoling herself with the simple fact that he didn't know everything. But, she had her chance now, didn't she?

_Don't I?_

She sheepishly looked at Van, and nodded, confirming what he already knew. He smiled, and looked away, pretending to find wisdom in the light that shone in through her bedroom window. In reality, one which he would never tell Merle, he was simply finding something, anything, to look at. Looking off into the distance was a ruse, a veil; the truth is that he didn't want to look at her right now.

No, he wasn't angry, and no, he wasn't disgusted at her. He wasn't like some of the bigots in the world that frowned on any relationships with humans mingling with "false" humans. He was simply searching for the right words. This was a _very_ delicate situation. _Merle might be feeling emotional right now_, he thought, trying to remind himself of the exact situation he was in, _she might not like what I'm about to tell her._ He looked at her, and found that her demeanor had changed. No longer was she attempting to hide from his gaze and presence, she had sat up, a look of concentration splayed over her face.

She was thinking.

_This is my chance! Grab it Merle!_

She had imagined it to be better, as all people did. Everyone imagines the moment when they reveal their undying love to someone as incredibly romantic. In her mind she had always imagined a sunset which painted the sky with deep reds and soft pinks, the colors of Lord Van's shirt and the background color on which the Fanelian Crest rested and the colors of Merle's own hair, the color of the drag energist which was the heart of Escaflowne. They would look into each other's eyes; Van's chocolate pools would mix well with the markings Merle was developing all over her body, her unique identifying stripes. Merle's blue eyes would reflect her hopes for a brighter sky over Fanelia, of the clear beautiful days she would spend with her Lord Van forever. They would say "I love you" to each other. Their lives would be complete for that one fleeting eternity which was their moment. They would draw into a kiss and the loving sun would finally fall into its sleep behind them, the sky darkening and revealing the deep dark heavens above. It would seem to Merle that the night sky was connected to Van through his equally deep and dark midnight hair, and the sun which had just shone before them would return inside their hearts and bodies. They would feel complete again as they joined for the first time, whispering sweet poems and passionate promises as they physically professed their love for each other.

That was the moment that Merle wanted.

Instead she got her room, herself in bandages and deprived of a bath by a few bedridden days.

_That's stupid_, she thought, _I'm not a child anymore._ What she asked for was no real, she didn't, couldn't hold on to the childish notion that the gods and goddesses that controlled the world would make the world romantic just for them two, no matter how many people Van had saved. _This is not fantasy land_ she said, building up courage in her head. _Van just saved me from death. He watched over me as I slept. He stayed by my side. He walked me home. He chose me over that hussy!_

_Now Merle! Do it now!_

"Merle, I'm sorry."

Van broke her from her thoughts, her heart felt like it was stuck in her throat, he was about to tell her what she always dreaded. _"I'm sorry Merle, I love Hitomi." _She prepared herself for those words, which she had thought she would have heard any day now, but Van rarely spoke of her recently. Maybe he would say _"I'm sorry Merle, but I love"_ and then he would say the name of some girl from Fanelia, or a princess from some far off country. She hoped he wouldn't, she could deal with him loving Hitomi, because Hitomi was her friend, and she could deal losing to her friend. To the girl from the Mystic Moon. _If anyone deserves Lord Van, it'd be her._

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, making you tell me something if you weren't ready yet." Van felt awkward in the silence; perhaps he shouldn't have made her say anything? He sighed and stood up, "Perhaps I should leave."

"No wait Lord Van. Sit." Merle pointed at the spot Van had occupied just a few seconds ago, she positioned herself so that she would sit right next to him. When Van didn't move, she huffed and patted his spot for a greater emphasis on "sit". She smiled when he finally took his spot next to her, and sighed. She figured she wouldn't tell him yet, not everything. Lord Van wasn't ready, and she wasn't ready.

"Thank you, Lord Van, for not making me say anymore." A moment of silence passed through them, the childhood friends who had now ventured into territory that was uncertain for them. Van didn't like this silence, and felt as if he had made a grave mistake by going down this road, but he was here now, and he felt some slight curiosity. He turned and eyed his friend, who was staring right back at him. He mulled over what she had meant by the words "anymore". _Perhaps there is more?_

Both of them caught each other staring, but didn't make a move to look away.

"How long?" he finally broke the silence between them. "How long have you felt like this?" "Oh," Merle slightly turned her head, her pink bangs falling across her face as she did so; she slightly looked around and let a grin play across her lips. She looked slightly embarrassed, like a child who had just been caught looking at something they shouldn't be, but then she turned her looks to Van. She was a child who had been caught, but that didn't mean the child would stop looking. "A while now," her answer finally came. "Why?" "Well, I'm wondering how I didn't notice this sooner." She giggled, and leaned against him, her head resting near his shoulder. She was glad to see that even with quite possibly their most awkward conversation taking place she could always lean on him for support. Things weren't uncomfortable, they weren't odd. Van didn't tell her to sit up straight, he didn't recoil away. Neither felt bogged down in the feelings that they had thought they would felt. Neither felt like two shy teenagers, neither was finding themselves stealing glances at each other and turning away, blushing madly.*

They were beyond that.

"Well Lord Van, it's not really your fault." She nuzzled her head against his shoulder. "You know, you were a bit busy trying to survive the Zaibach War, stopping Dornkirk from destroying the world and trying to save Fanelia. I think I can forgive you for not noticing what I felt during those times."

"_During_ the war?"

"Mmhmm."

Van felt great shame, he hadn't realized that Merle harbored those feelings, feelings which he had come to recognize as the most valuable and important feelings in the world, for such a long time. He would have felt even greater shame if he knew the truth, how could he, the person closest to her, not know what was going on? How could he have been so _blatantly stupid,_ so dense, that he didn't notice this? He cringed inwardly when he realized that Merle had feelings for him, feelings he was completely oblivious to, as he fell in love with Hitomi. She encouraged him on as he went off and chased her while she simply sat back, almost forgotten, overshadowed.

"I'm terribly sorry that I didn't notice before Merle."

More giggles were heard from her, the sensation of her laughter against his shoulder sent a very comfortable feeling across his body. "It's OK Lord Van, I already said it was." She then changed her resting position from leaning on him to hugging him, her slender arms wrapping around his body. Small amounts of pain was felt across her shoulder as she moved it, but she was otherwise quite comfortable. Her tail waved side to side behind her, and Van began to run his hand through her hair, playing with the silky material as it slipped through his fingers and smiled as Merle let out a content sigh happy with the rather easy and smooth way they had both handled this. Something nagged at her mind however, the ever present demon of doubt that seeks out sorrow within all of us, and she just _had _to ask.

"Lord Van… what are you going to do if Hitomi comes back?"

Van's hand still running across her hair faltered for only a moment before he continued. "I don't think she's coming back Merle." "Well… that doesn't really answer my question now does it?" He laughed whole heartedly, one of the few times he had done so in recent times, "I suppose I didn't. Nothing gets by you does it Merle?" "Nope, maybe you should learn from me," she added with a teasing grin, "but you still haven't answered. Do you still love her?" She hugged him a bit stronger, unconsciously preparing for the emotional blow that would surely smash her heart when she heard him say _"Of course I do. You and I can_ _never be together. I belong only to Hitomi!" Well… Lord Van isn't _that_ sappy._

"I love her" Merle's eyes started to water, "but not in that way anymore. I love her as someone valuable in my life, and I'd be happy to see her. But her return is unlikely and I have to be realistic."**

Merle process this far faster than any other information in her life. _He doesn't love her like that anymore! _Once again, Merle noted the difference between being _in _love with something, and loving someone. _And Lord Van's feelings towards Hitomi are now squarely in the platonic love zone! THIS IS GREAT! You're in the game again Merle!_

She suddenly regained her hope, and hugged Van even tighter. If he couldn't breathe that was his fault for giving her so much hope in so little time. "So," she asked in her most innocent and coy voice available, one which sounded like a soft whisper and purr, "does that mean that the King of Fanel is single and available?"

Again the young King's laughter filled the room, which was somewhat stifled by Merle's vice grip on his body. "I suppose it does, and I do know what you mean by asking that." He returned her embrace, careful again not to touch her sore wounds. "I'm not rejecting you or your feelings Merle, but at the moment I don't really know what to do or think about them."

Merle smiled and laughed, her girlish voice of taking on a more womanly quality as her body prepared to enter its prime in a few months. She wondered where she or Van would be then, where they would be as people. She knew where she wanted to be, and now, with many doubts cleared from her mind, she knew she would have to work towards that dream.

"Aha, so, I have to compete against the girls of Fanelia and several princesses?" _Oh, and that hussy _she added with a venomous afterthought.

Van sighed again, still locked in an embrace with her.

"Seems to be. But you have a head start over them."

"Thank you Lord Van."

…

"Merle?"

"Mmh?"

"When was the last time you showered?"

_Gods kill me now._

* * *

*I find the whole "everytime the two lovers look/touch/think/smell/hear of each other they blush madly" thing slightly annoying and a bit overused in animu/mango and fanfictions. Not that every animu/mango or fanfic that uses this is bad, (some of them use this for hilarious comedic) but I personally want to avoid such a thing.

**I also want to attempt to avoid the mopey character thing, or more correctly, the overt "fantasy" feel that is felt in _Escaflowne._

**Author's Note: **Also, I would either like some reviews (I can't improve if I get no criticism) either on the story itself or the writing style. Feedback is greatly appreciated.


	7. Construction Work

**Author's Note: **Hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day for those of you who celebrate that and if you don't well, happy Sunday. Happy Presidents Day for those of you who celebrated that too. BTW: I noticed something hilarious while looking over the Traffic section in my control menu for this story. Ch. 7, Under a Pile of Sheets has the highest visitor count in this month at 11 visits. Can anyone guess why? :D

Anyways…

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_**Construction Work**_

The next few weeks had been, in Van's opinion, very informative. Ever true to his word, had spent more time with Merle; he had made an effort to know his companion better. At first he may have had the arrogant idea that he knew everything about her. How could he not? He'd been her closest friend for almost her entire life, so what could he possibly not know? He had thought that paying more attention to her, and speaking to her more would be an easy thing, that it would simply be idle chit-chat here and there, small things, "What did you do today?" "How are your friends doing?" and other small things.

He was shocked to find out how terrible wrong he was.

In hindsight he should have expected this; he was after all completely oblivious to Merle's affection for him, since he did not yet know the whole truth, so he would have been smart to expect more. But he didn't.

And so, over the few weeks he had learned much more about Merle than he thought existed. Simple things he already knew: her favorite foods (anything with jam), her favorite color (any variation of pink), her favorite song (The Fanelian Royal) her favorite animal (dolphins, in spite of the fact that she has never seen a normal one?) and so on. What he had never known, however, were specifics. Van admitted with some embarrassment that he didn't remember all the details of the day he had met Merle.

"Your mother had given me jelly filled rolls when she caught me stealing from the castle pantry." She admitted, no longer ashamed of the crime that brought her into Van's life. "She _gave_ me some food."

Her favorite song also originated from a story with Van's mother, Varie. She had heard Varie humming the Fanelian Royal, and asked what it was. She immediately loved the tune and song, and it had also found a place in her heart because the song was taught to her by the woman she looked up, and because it reminded her that, in the Fanelian Royal Family, she had found a home.

Van had learned that while in Asturia Merle had caught word of the Royal Asturian Aquarium and had desperately wanted to visit such a thing. She had been mulling over asking if he would take her there, but her hopes were trampled when more important things, such as running from assassins and the Royal Guard had taken precedence. Still, Van wondered how she favored dolphins if she's never seen a natural non-near human one. "Oh that's easy" she had answered, "I've never seen a dolphin. So of course it's my favorite animal. Plus, I've always wanted to eat one."* Van stood dumbstruck, hearing the answer Merle had so haphazardly given, an answer that would have probably seriously offended many of the Deep Ones.** But then, that was just like her wasn't it? Merle wasn't stupid, she wasn't crass or offensive, but she did say what was on her mind, and if people didn't like that… "Well too bad" is what she would say. Van realized that he was like her, but only some of the time. In various meetings with officials and other people of import he would often grow tired of politics, of backroom deals and the like and speak as bluntly as possible. When his people were dying he could care less if some official or representative from somewhere thought helping the Fanelian cause would get him more votes in the next elections.

As he went along, as the days turned into weeks Van had found himself realizing that Merle represented all of Fanelia. He was their king, but what did he really know? He had always been there for them in the hard times, but is that enough? He had talked to her all the time, but had he really said anything, he would address his people periodically, but did he ever really address them, their fears and needs? As they would walk together in the rare times when he wasn't needed at some site, to approve some plans, to meet with some members of some organization or other, he watched her as she moved through the city. Smiling, laughing, making jokes, humming, talking to everyone that passed by. They all knew her, everyone in Fanelia knew each other, but they especially knew Merle. Van, Hitomi, Allen, Millerna, they had all made names for themselves before, during and after the Zaibach War. Merle had too. The stories of her faithful companionship to their King, to her friends, to herself. She had gained some sort of quasi-heroic status amongst people who were often overlooked as heroes. To the people who can't go off and fight with swords and spears and guymelefs, to the people who couldn't tell you the proper flanking maneuvers to a pincer formation, the men and women who never fought on a battlefield of rain and blood, but fought at home. The people who looked after each other, the people who cheered each other on, the ones who stayed home and kept home a wonderful dream to return to.

Van told her all of this, she had forced it out of him, she could tell when he was upset, there really wasn't any hiding from her.

And of course, when she told him he was wrong, that the people loved him, that them simply being here was testament to that fact.

"You've done more than enough for us, for me Lord Van. Don't think you need to give more."

It is curious to recall that small feeling that all people may feel at one point in their life. When you care for someone, when you hold them dear to your heart, it is never "enough".

For Merle, the past few weeks had been beautiful. She and Lord Van had finally been spending more time together, time she had never knew she wanted. She always loved being with him, to be in his presence, but she never knew what it was like to actually talk to him, to hold conversations with him that lasted longer than a few sentences. It was unnecessary, she knew, they didn't _need_ to talk anymore. "We're like an old married couple Lord Van, we can read each other's minds." She had joked. But even so, she didn't care. She didn't care if she could look at Van, at his stance, at his face, at the way his lip was forming either a straight line with furrowed eyes or a slight frown with calm eyes, she knew what he was thinking. Usually before he did.

But still, she loved hearing him actually talk to her. She loved how he said what was on his mind, even though they both knew it was unnecessary, because it showed he cared. And so, deep in her heart, she began to hope, to think, to dream that every morning when they met, when they would talk and have fun, when Merle would give him his lunch for the day (always jelly rolls of course, since that was all she had and Van hadn't objected yet), when Van would smile and laugh with her, that when they started to grow closer, that Van was slowly, almost cautiously testing her response. Both of them were moving into a place that was a bit beyond best friends, but not quite lovers yet.

Merles smiled as she walked up to the area were Lord Van was overseeing some new work. The collapse of the ancient temple had essentially done the job of the construction crew, and now new plans had been proposed to leave this area open, after clearing away the debris of course, and open it up as more temporary housing and, in the future, as a second market place. It was nearing the midday, which meant that the first shifts would take their 6 hour break, while the next shift would come in. Rebuilding an entire city was a 24 hour job, though it was become much easier and easier to do.

Merle sat and waited outside the tent that had been set up to protect the valuable documents, the building plans, the architectural designs and the seal that Van used to stamp off official documents, official approvals to move ahead with the work. While she waited for the small break the higher ups could take, men like Lord Van, some of the foremen and others couldn't afford to take long respites like other people did. They had all decided that they didn't really do any "work" like the other workers, so such rests were entirely undeserved. At best they could hope to have small breaks between going this way and that, and Van, being at the center of the entire nation, had even less time off.

She heard several raised voices, some of which she could pinpoint to a certain person, and some of which she could not. _That one there,_ she though, honing in on the voice of a man who sounded as if a knife had nearly slit his through, and it had, _is the guard captain._ Another voice, this one sounding as if it came from an old man, which it did, belonged to _One of those old judges._ They said something back and forth and Merle picked up quite a bit of swears littering the already heated argument. She could not make out any specifics, but she dreaded that it was another report of looting in the outskirts. Her attempts to discern more of the argument were cut short when the shuffling of feet signaled that whatever the meeting was about, it was now over. Several men walked out of the tent, some in armor and some in robes and other official clothing. The guard captain, a giant man who bore a giant gash across his neck stopped and talked to the guard that was posted at the entrance, who had been dozing on the job. The giant man reprimanded the young guard, but then told him that his next break time would be extended by an hour, "everyone is off kilter today. Get some sleep, we can't be sleeping on the job forever." Merle grabbed her bag and stood up, hoping to get their attention, she wanted to go in and see Van, and the two guards were frankly blocking her way.

The giant armored man looked down and caught her in his eye sight, smiled and bowed out of the way, "Ah, Lady Merle, please don't let us keep you from Lord Fanel."

Merle smiled and bowed politely if confused, she had no rank that she knew off, though she had heard some word here and there that she was being considered given an honorary rank, and so walked into the tent. Just as she had expected, here and there were the papers, small models of planned buildings, and crumpled pieces of paper, rejected plans. Van was there, deep in thought over something. She smiled when she saw him look up, and motioned for her to come closer. He moved some papers off of his desk, knowing she never took orthodox sitting positions, and patted the desk, 'sit here' he seemed to say.

"What was that about?" she asked, sitting on the desk, clearing even more space to set down the lunch she had packed.

"More bad news. A looting, a woman was nearly kidnapped, luckily her brother stopped the attackers." He let out a heavy sigh, one which didn't seem to relieve the entire stress of a nation sitting on his shoulders, "We barely have enough properly trained and equipped guards. We need better horses for them, so they can at least patrol the outer areas better." He looked over a map labeled "Fanelia and her Territories". At the center of the map of was the city of Fanelia, and for the first time Merle actually realized just how much was riding on Van. The city of Fanelia had various red areas drawn over it, probably areas that still required vast improvements or remodeling to fix which were thankfully surrounded by larger swaths of yellow and smaller patches of green, areas which were under development and areas that were livable. _So, _Merle thought, _if most of the city is done, except some very bad areas, why are there still soo many people without homes?_ She then mentally, and quite possibly physically, slapped her forehead when she took her gaze off of the city itself, and focused on the various _smaller_ towns that surrounded Fanelia, and beyond that, the small outposts, and surrounding all of that the large fields of villas that were in charge of farmland and grazing fields. Much of that was still colored over with reds and yellows, with small dots of green here and there. Hasty notes had been drawn on the sides and in the map, "Food shortage here", "Medicine needed here" "No one here anymore". Her heart sank when she looked over the last messages, along with several Xs and Ts drawn in bunches near some areas. Graveyards. Here and there, along some of the farther places were giant Ls drawn, which she guessed stood for "looting". A few fresh Ls had been drawn recently, probably what the shouting was about.

"Merle? Are you listening?"

"Huh?"

Van chuckled, "I asked you what you have been doing all day?"

"What? Oh Lord Van nothing. I've been doing nothing all day, what about you? All this bad news can't be doing you any good, maybe…" Merle looked around, and noticed a small cot near one of the sides, probably something Van had set up to nod off in during meetings, "yes, that's it!" Merle suddenly got a determined look on her face, and jumped off the desk. "Get some sleep, I'll wake you up in… what? 30 minutes? When is your next meeting?"

Van looked at one of the clockwork pieces that stood in the tent, it's gears clicking away at what he had been assured was a mathematically precise measurement of time. "In 1 hour."

"Great, come over here on this comfy cot then, that chair is wooden and stiff, it's bad for your back. Now this cot on the other hand…" she looked over at the cot, which she patted as if it was a small animal, she trailed her eyes all over it as if to emphasize just how comfortable it is. Van stood up, finishing his jelly roll and walked over to the cot, voicing no objections to Merle's wonderful plan. "You sit with me too then."

They took their spots, Van leaning back into the superior resting place, and Merle of course, choosing to lean on him. "You know Lord Van, you shouldn't work so hard."

"How can you say th-"

"Let me finish." A second went by, and Merle continued "Ok. Like I was saying, you shouldn't work so hard. Where would Fanelia be if our King had died of exhaustion? Besides, you'll ruin your good looks if you keep frowning, scowling and having such a hard look on our face."

Van again put his hand in its rightful place, ruffling Merle's hair. "Ha. And maybe you shouldn't worry so much about me otherwise you'll lose _your_ good looks."

Merle started giggling, "Awwww you think I'm pretty Lord Van?" "Of course… haven't I ever said so?" "No, you haven't. Tell me again, you haven't ever told me I'm pretty, so the way I see it you owe me 14 years of "You are pretty", and I want payment now."

Van yawned, the calmness of this conversation putting him more and more at ease, "Yeah? I haven't heard "You are handsome Lord Van" so why should I?" *GASP* "Lord Van, I've told you various times that I think you are handsome… er, haven't I?" Van nodded a 'no', causing Merle to seriously question why she's never told him this before. "Well," she started, embarrassment creeping into her "I think that you, Lord Van, are quite handsome."

Van smiled, "And I think that you are quite beautiful."

More giggles, and a noticeable blush came upon Merle's face, her insides warming slightly. "You really think I am beautiful Lord Van?"

"You are pretty, caring and strong in what you believe. That's a beautiful woman if I've ever seen one."

"Thank you." Merle looked up and kissed Van on the cheek, a quick peck, a show of affection and gratitude. "For everything."

They sat and talked for a few more minutes before Merle reminded Van that he needed some sleep. She promised to keep watch over him, and to wake him up in an hour. She promised, and tried her hardest to keep her word.

Unfortunately, without Van to keep her company, and out of jelly rolls, Merle had nothing to do.

When Merle has nothing to do, she falls asleep.

She didn't want to, she promised she wouldn't, but she couldn't fight the boredom that was over taking her, and the cot was quite cozy, and so was Lord Van.

They both fell asleep, content that they had laid the foundations towards something greater than what currently was.

* * *

Sorry for the longer time during updates, but the weekend was busier than I expected. Again, reviews/criticism/feedback is appreciated.


	8. Fateful Decision

**Author's Note: **Ugh, sick. Currently feel like *returning* the _Weinerschnitzel_ I currently ate. Anyways, here is the next update. Also, this update was supposed to come sooner but I couldn't figure out how to… do something, so I went back to re-watch _Escaflowne_ for some inspiration.

* * *

_**Fateful Decision**_

Merle hummed a tune as she unpacked her and Van's lunch for the day. She quickly looked over to Van, still sitting at his desk and looking over some few papers. "I'll be there in a few seconds Merle." He called over, not looking up from his papers. "Alright, take your time Lord Van."

_What I really mean is drop those papers and get over here already!_

Merle giggled at herself, something Van had long ago been accustomed to. He continued to write something in the myriad of papers and scrolls before him, and looked over to his friend who continued to giggle and unpack their lunch. He spotted some biscuits, sweet breads and some fruits and the sights of food caused his stomach to growl and churn, protesting the lack of sustenance in the past several hours.

More cat giggles, "Lord Van, eat already. Those papers will still be there; they won't just go and hop off your desk. Sheesh, and would it kill you open up these windows a bit more?" Merle struggled to open the window in Van's room; they were in the Castle now, as a holiday celebration was postponing work. She struggled with the windows, checking and re-checking the shutters. Mumbling something about a lock she attempted the shutters again, and seemingly giving up, turned to Van.

"Uh, do these windows even open?"

"They haven't for a while, but who knows? Maybe they'll give up if you try hard enough?"

"Ha-ha Lord Van. I don't quite like this new humor of yours. You've been spending _too_ much time with those foul mouthed workers."

"You're just mad that Angela and other girls pass by and try flirting with me." Van noted as he walked over to a now flustered Merle and forced open the shutters. Sunlight which had been bathing the outside world seeped into Van's room, along with a cool breeze.

"Mmph." Merle began eating one of the biscuits that she had laid out in a blanket on Van's bed. "Wait... just how many girls?" _Yeah, I don't like this new sense of humor._

"A few, but I never seriously consider their offers."

"Well, that's good. Those girls, their just after you because you're a big hero and you're the King. It's the gold they want."

Van sat down next to her, causing her to jump slightly, the bed moving his impact all along its surface. Before biting into a sandwich, filled with jelly of course, he asked "Oh yeah? So now one likes me just for me?"

"Nuh-uh I mmiked you mmmh you!"

Van sighed, dusting off some crumbs that had came flying out of Merle's mouth from her outbreak. "You know, it's pretty bad manners to talk with your mouth full. And to throw crumbs all over your friend and his bed."

Merle quickly downed her food, and apologized just as quickly, "I'm sorry Lord Van. I just wanted to say that I liked you for you." She smiled weakly, almost afraid again of restating her feelings for the man who sat a few feet from her. Though they had been spending much time together recently, neither of them talked about this particular subject, though they both knew they would have to. Merle, from her view, was quite sure that Van knew why she wanted to spend more time with her, he had to know. She had told him, in no uncertain terms, that she liked him (and luckily he hadn't figured out more) and that she was competing for his attention against many of the other girls in Fanelia, and she probably guesses, other royals from other countries. And he had told her, also in no uncertain terms that he didn't reject those feelings but simply did not know what to do with them. She was, as far as she could see, still in the running, if she ever was.

But they hadn't talked about this subject since that day, not even an awkward and uncomfortable conversation.

And that, she decided, would change now.

But still, she was quite nervous, Van kept eating his lunch, and she could tell by the way he seemed to have his eyes concentrated on some random spot on the wall that he was thinking. And he wasn't answering or talking back. For a few brief seconds she thought that he had avoided this conversation because he had in fact rejected her. If you don't talk about it, sooner or later it's assumed you don't want it.

_No, Lord Van isn't a jerk like that. If he didn't return my feelings he'd tell me. I'm sure he would._

It was then that she decided to move over and sit a bit farther away from him, a small part of her telling her that perhaps she was fooling herself.

"You know Lord Van, I re-"

"You know Merle," he cut her off, probably not hearing her earlier; "it won't be easy."

_?_

"Huh? What won't be easy?"

Van looked straight at her, and flashed a quick smile.

Van put down his sandwich, moved the blanket and the rest of the food out of the way, and shifted his position. He was now facing Merle head on, his eyes looking straight at hers, almost as if he was looking into her.

And, all truth be told, he probably was. Before the eyes of each other, they both now knew, they were laid bare. Van was, of course, not able to peer as deep into Merle's being as she may have perhaps wanted, but she in turn could not see into his being either. Neither of them were at fault, however. Hitomi and love had turned Van's gaze from piercing too deeply into Merle's heart, and Merle's own self doubt could never dare to see what had been brewing in Van recently.

Van reached out and touched Merle's hand, and immediately she knew, and her hands fight like sparks and butterflies were flying about it.

"Merle, I want to be with you."

Merle looked at her hand, small and delicate, being held tenderly in the rougher hands of Van. She noted all the calluses, and a few cuts he had received where hard masonry or metal had met his skin. She then looked back at him, their eyes locking once more. She saw his lips part again, ready to speak.

"But, I'm afraid. Afraid that it won't work."

He hesitated for a second, and Merle awaited his next words. Her ears, which could pick up minute and distant sounds seemed to have selectively honed in on him, she could almost hear the air enter his lungs as he began to speak again, almost hear the words form in his throat before he spoke them.

"Merle, you do know that I care for you but recently I've realized that I care for you as more than my friend, as more than my best friend. I've realized just how important you are to me, and I've realized how stupid I've been to never see this before."

"Merle," he continued, his hand still holding hers, "I want to be with you, if you'll let me but, you know that it will be hard? With my work, with everything that is happening, I don't want you to think that I'll be ignoring you, or that you come second in my life. And, I don't think you deserve that."

Before he knew it Merle had crossed the small distance between them, and wrapped her arms around his, hugging tightly.

"Oh Lord Van. You're such an idiot."

Van, had he not know Merle for so long would have probably been shocked by her words.

"Lord Van, I've always been by your side. I've been with you in good times and at bad times. I care for you, why wouldn't I be with you now?"

"Mer-"

"Shut up and let me finish. Geez, you do spend too much time with those rowdy workers. No manners anymore." She smiled, and Van did to. Some of their tension evaporated away. "And Lord Van… you don't have to worry about me thinking I'll be second in your life because… well I know I am."

"What no, I-ack!"

Van was silenced by Merle biting into his arm, not in a painful manner; she doubted she could ever really hurt him, even if she wanted. He'd been hit by swords, had broken bones, and been nearly sliced apart when the Escaflowne was being repaired, she wouldn't be able to hurt him. At least not physically. "What did I just say about letting me finish?"

"Sorry Merle."

"Thank you. Now Lord Van, I know I'll be second for you. And I'm OK with that… really I am. I know that Fanelia comes first. There are thousands of people counting on you, men, women and children. An entire nation, our home, depends on you Lord Van. It would be selfish and stupid of me to ask you to put me before all of that. I wouldn't want you to put me before all of that Lord Van."

She began to rub the spot where she had just bit him; almost sorry she had just playfully bit him to shut him up. _Where are _my_ manners? You don't bite people for interrupting…_

"Lord Van, that's one thing I like, no, I love about you. You are selfless, always thinking of others. You could be selfish, you know you could, you could be like any of the other kings or queens out there. You could stay locked up in a castle while everyone around you lives in filth, alone, and scared."

"But… you don't. You care about us, actually care. I don't want to be the woman to take our Lord Fanel away from Fanelia. So please, don't worry, I'm fine, I really am."

"I'm just glad I'm the first woman in your life."

He hugged her, something he suddenly acknowledged that he rarely did.

"I don't want to ruin our friendship either. What if something happens between us? We might not be able to be the same anymore."

"No Lord Van, we aren't the same anymore. We're not best friends anymore, we… well, we are greater than that now, aren't we?"

Van sighed, seemingly accepting the truth in her words, but he truly cared for Merle. He didn't want to hurt her, and he knew that relationships sometimes fall apart; he knew that tough times can strain relationships, and Fanelia was at its toughest time in history. "I just don't want to lose you if something bad happens, if this fails, if it doesn't work. I, I really don't think I have anyone except you Merle."

"Don't worry. I'll always be here with you, by your side Lord Van. I always have, and I don't have a reason to leave you now. There's probably nothing you could do to hurt me, to make me leave."

"Mmhp," Van grunted, "are you sure about that?"

"Yup. You'd never do something to hurt me, you should give yourself more credit as a gentleman."

"If you say so."

"Lord Van, umm, how long?"

"You mean, how long I've felt like this?" "Yes." "Well…" Van said, his eyes moving from side to side, as if he was reviewing his life in his eyes, trying to pinpoint the exact scene where he realized what he now knows. "Maybe… a few days ago. 3 at the most. Why do you ask?"

"Well…" she began, misfit evident in her voice, "I just wanted to know how long you've known what an amazing and wonderful girl I am." Both of them laughed together, Merle at her own joke and Van at the truth in her words. They slowly died down to chuckles, giggles, and finally smiles.

"Sooo…" she asked, hugging his arm closer to herself, "are you officially courting me now?"

"Officially courting? I didn't know you were interested in fancy royal things like that." Van looked at her confusedly, she always hated the old balls, official meetings and acting like a "proper lady". And he knew what she was talking about, royals would usually announce when they were interested in someone, a rule of etiquette meant to discourage any competition from other suitors. If he remembered his old classes correctly, it was meant to avoid conflicts between powerful families, and in one case, he heard, in a country to the East, a war broke out when a noblewoman dated 2 men at once. The affair was settled when the noblewoman chose one of the men… after he had killed the competitor and the country was nearly destroyed in a civil war.

But Merle? Why would she want this?

_It doesn't matter. If she wants this, then I'll give it to her._

Van stood up, dusted himself off and beckoned her to follow, offering her his hand to help her raise herself up. She slipped her hand into his, and allowed herself to be helped up. It was a formality, but Van's courteous nature demanded it, and Merle felt special, a tingling feeling in her stomach.

Van looked at her, and offered his hand, palm up*. Again, she lifted up her hand, her palm facing his, and gently held his hand as he took it into his.

"Lady Merle," he said in all seriousness, "would you do me the honor of accompanying me?"

Merle smiled, her eyes shining with happiness, "Yes."

Van bowed slightly, and kissed her hand, a small butterfly kiss, which sealed the deal, as far as nobles were concerned.

When Van came back up, they looked at each other for a single second. Whatever Van had though, Merle was right. For better or for worse they were beyond friendship now. He knew this to be true, they could never go back, but he felt no regret. Not now. He'd make this work, he'd take care of her. The moment passed quickly, however as they stood facing each other. A grin appeared on Merle's face, a smile, and then loud laughter. Contagious laughter which soon found itself with a new victim, Van.

"We really are silly aren't we?" Merle let out finally, walking over to Van, and hugging him once again. Throwing her arms around his neck, she quickly tip-toed and gently placed a kiss on his check. "There," she said, "you're my boyfriend now. You lost your chance to get out of this. You, Lord Van, are stuck with me."

Van hugged her back, laughing as he did so. "Yes I am."

* * *

So yeah, hopefully the long lag between updates was worth it.

So here we have it, Van and Merle are now officially a couple. Yup. I realize now that it would be more "romantic" for them to have gotten together at some place more… well romantic (I mean seriously, who gets together in someone's room over jelly sandwhiches?) but I'm trying to avoid everything being too sappy. Also, in my opinion, their choice here makes more sense in the specifics of the story. Fanelia is pretty messed up ATM, so where would this romance take place but in a natural normal settting?

Anyways, please review. Criticism _is_ important. I don't only want to finish this story, but I want to finish a _good_ story.


	9. Lull

**Author's Note: **Sorry, real life physics and Creative Writing class got in the way, as did _Mass Effect 2._ A short chapter, but I'll make up for it by continuing regular updates again. Also, please review. I _need_ the criticism.

_**Lull**_

Merle sat on Van's bed, laid stomach down, her hands propping up her head as she half smiled and grinned at Van, who was busy at work again with several papers. Once in a while Van would look up at Merle, who would then smile, giggle or would be preoccupied hugging Van's pillows. He just shrugged, unable to comprehend why Merle was so happy.

Of course, he was happy too. He couldn't deny that, but not as happy as Merle seemed to be. It had pained him to have to let Merle go and return to his work, even if it was just across the room. They had however, kept up their conversation, though it was moving a slower pace now that Van was occupied on his papers. He had to be more careful, he had caught himself about to approve a plan that, upon closer inspection, turned out to be a terrible waste of resources. He was also sure he'd sign an agreement to appear at some ball somewhere.

He groaned in annoyance, he probably did sign some paper like that. But it was too late now, he can't very well erase the signature, or ignore that paper, relations with other countries had to be maintained. Even if it meant going to terribly boring balls.

"So Lord Van, I wa-"

"Merle, don't you think we're past you calling me Lord all the time?"

"No, never." She crossed her arms and furiously nodded, seeming to violently reject the idea that Lord Van would ever be anything other than Lord Van. "If you had wanted to not call you that you would have said so a long time ago don't you think? Besides, if I didn't call you Lord Van, what would I call you?"

Van put down his plume, and looked at her, surprised that she couldn't simply say his name, no title at all. The idea didn't even occur to her. "Why don't you simply call me Van?"

"What? Just call you… by your name?" She seemed to think about it for a few seconds, "Is that what you want?"

"I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't. Merle, just call me by my name. We don't need any of these silly titles anymore."

She made a face, then sighed in resignation, "Fine, I'll work on it Lord Van. Say, can we tell anyone?"

Van looked up from his paperwork, shrugged. "I don't see why you couldn't. Why, do you have someone in mind?"

_Hitomi and Angie, to see the look on their faces._

"No, not at the moment, but I'm just asking. You know," she began as she rose from the bed and walked over to Van's desk. She quickly glanced over his papers and began sorting some of them, "we might not even need to tell anyone, they might not notice. We do spend most of our time together as it is."

She suddenly held up an letter inviting Van to a ball held in a nearby town, in the kingdom of Asturia. Van shrugged, nodding his head causing Merle to roll her eyes and giggle. "Pay less attention to me and more attention to your work… Wait no."

They spent the next few minutes going over the papers. Their comfortable silence allowed Van to fully read over everything before he signed and approved, while Merle neatly stacked papers, sorted them out according to what they were, plans for new renovations, letters from other countries, business contracts from merchants and signed letters agreeing to show up at boring balls in other countries. She huffed, "Lord Van, when you go to these things I'm going with you. I can barely stand girls in Fanelia fawning over you, much less rich princesses doing the same."

"You know you shouldn't be jealous" Van said, finishing the final paper and sitting back, exhausted, "It's not like I'm going to leave you, or do something disgraceful."

Merle jumped into Van's lap and hugged him, "You'd better not. I know where you live."

They laughed, and Merle reached over and kissed Van's cheek. It would have been surprising had she already not done it several times throughout their lives, but today it was slightly different. They looked at each other and again realized that they were not looking at simply best friends, but people who held affection for each other. They talked for a while, holding each other as they had many times before, but differently. "You know Lord Van, we might not have to tell anyone. They might figure it out themselves… or they might not."

"What do you mean they might not? When they see us together they'll, oh… I see what you mean."

Merle placed her head against Van's chest, the sound of his heart beating within, "Mmmh, yeah. We're always together and we're pretty close anyway. They might not notice. I wouldn't mind, I know the truth." They continued to talk, with Merle finally asking Lord Van how he had never noticed her affections to him. "Well Merle," he began half jokingly, "when you are being trained from childhood to maybe kill a dragon, cut out its heart and lead a nation and then shortly afterwards end up in the biggest war Gaea has had in history, you tend to not notice a lot of things that don't revolve around running a nation or swinging a sword." Merle was quite appalled that she had never thought of this.

_How could I have never noticed this?_

She hugged him, her arms wrapped round her neck, her body shifting position to be closer to him. "I'm sorry" she whispered. She had never thought of Van's personal life before, she was always there, but she hadn't realized that she looked at his life differently than he did. She always remembers playing with him around his meal times, when Balgus and his other teachers were not around, when his mother gave him free time. Since that was all she saw, she assumed that was all he did. But was she there when Balgus and others would teach him to hold a sword when he was 6? To stab and aim for unprotected parts on a man when he was 10? Was she there when his father once sternly lectured him on his responsibility should his older brother fail, that thousands counted on him?

She hugged him, and whispered "I'm sorry" again. She wasn't there before, she was too small to know what was going on, but she could be here now.


	10. Old and New

_**Old and New**_

An airship was far superior to an earthbound caravan. With no horses it didn't have to make periodic rest stops, it could move in a straight line towards its destination, and since few criminal groups could afford leviships it was at a lesser chance of being raided. All that was needed was a source of heat that was required to power the engines and the levitation stones which produce its marvelous and unusual ability to float, to counteract gravity, and allowed objects too heavy and too big to fly.

This airship, the _Allegiance _the first in the _Allegiance_-class,required 4 giant levistones built along its spinal mounting to gain the required lift to even bring the ship and its cargo loads up to the sky, and required `6 pfropeller engines, 8 on each side of the ship, to move the entire contraption at a reasonable speed. Being one of the newer and larger types of ships being built by the Austrian Kingdom, few of these ships had been seen in Gaea, and this was the first one seen in Fanelian skies. It was little wonder then that when the _Allegiance_ was spotted off of the recently construction airship port off of Fanelia's flanking mountains the guards panicked. As far as they knew the only people who could build ships that big were Zaibach's people. "Some of them are still around aren't they?" "A Zaibach ship!" Several similar comments ran around the docking rings and the guards sprang into action, loading several of the 10 foot long spears into the ballistae towers that had been built as a line of defense against further attacks around the ring.

The dock master, a middle aged Fanelian who had studied ship craft in far off countries and returned during the war, suddenly burst out of his office, yelling at the "pissing landfucks" to "get a grip on your selves, that's a _friendly_ ship, that means DON'T FIRE AT IT YOU IDIOTS!"

A political disaster was averted only for a new one to present itself.

The _Allegiance _was too big to dock.

The people who had built the docks had expected trade between Asturia and Fanelia, when Fanelia could afford airships of course, and had constructed the docks to the specifications of the largest ships that Asturia had. The only problem was that the Austrian dock workers were in Fanelia at the time of the construction and hence hadn't even _heard_ of the _Allegiance-_class cargo ships. How could you build something to accommodate a ship you don't even know exists?

However the dock master knew better. He quickly formulated a plan and with flag signals towards the ship and cooperation with the Asturians aboard he put it into action.

"Dock in anyway! The stress limits are just suggestions! Just ease in slowly."

No one else had a better solution, knocking down a docking pier and moving it over to make a wider space was out of the question, and the ship probably didn't have enough fuel to fly around for a few days while a new pier was constructed.

The pier buckled and paint was scratched but the ship entered and its load was delivered.

"Sometimes a big ship has to dock no matter the size of the port."

A few laughs rang out, the dock master clearly very pleased with his clever euphemism.

"Is that any way to talk in front of a lady?"

"Well Merle, I hear you have your share of foul langu-ah Lord Fanel!"

The dock master quickly straightened up, as did all the other dockworkers in the presence of their leader.

"Good work here Melcor, making do with what you have."

"Lord Fanel" Melcor bowed, the corner of his eyes catching the vision of Merle grinning and laughing at him silently behind his king's back, "yes. The docks aren't the best, but they are a start. One day our own ships will be flying off of them into faraway lands."

"Of course. Just ah… make sure you know who's around before you make jokes."

"Of course Lord Fanel, well, shall we see our visitors?" He waved them ahead, letting Van, Merle and several guards move on towards the _Allegiance_, which had also opened its doors towards its main sleeping areas, where guardsmen wearing Asturian colors were filing out, their captains in front of each group. Ahead of them stood a tall man wearing the blue and white uniform of the Knights of Caeli.

Allen Schezar.

Merle moved away from Van, though almost everyone in the kingdom was used to seeing them glued together they also knew she had no official standing in the Fanelian family, and so she always moved off to the side when important meetings took place, like all the civilians did.

Van and his guards moved forward, and Allen bowed. Though they were quite good friends, and in Van's mind Allen was his second best friend in the world, they still had to follow procedure.

"Lord Fanel of Fanelia, I, Allen Schezar, on behalf of the Majesty of the Asturian Kingdom bring this ship, the _Allegiance_, filled with supplied for your people, and this platoon of guards. We are here to help our closest ally who has helped us through these troubled times."

Allen straightened up and held out a scroll, the ship manifest signed by the King of Asturia and Princess Millerna, along with several signatures by several of the Asturian heads of state.

Van took a step forward, "The Land and People of Fanelia will graciously accept these gifts. Asturia is truly a great friend."

He accepted the scroll and a cheer went out, the dock master going to greet the captain of the _Allegiance_ and swap airship stories, and several of the guards moved towards their Asturian brethren to share stories, gawk at each other's armor and equipment and begin assignments and laying out patrol routes. The cargo bay doors swung open and several yellow painted guymelefs moved forward to handle the giant crates of cargo.

Fanelians cheered at every single crate labeled 'Medicine' and 'Food', hats were thrown into the air and jokes were passed around.

In all the commotion Van, Allen and Merle moved over to the side, allowing people to run past to and fro, setting up heavier pulleys and ramps for the bigger cargo crates to pass by. Van and Allen shook hands, and greeted each other as friends free from formality. "This is great; I wasn't expecting your arrival so early."

Allen nodded, looking at his friend's eyes, and the faces of all the passersby's. He knew they weren't just happy and excited by their visiting ally, they were happy because the ship and its cargo meant that someone, maybe their friends or family, would eat good bread tonight, that maybe someone in the hospitals would survive their infections from cuts working in the ruins, and that the guards would help keep away looters and wild beasts. The ship meant that they might have a better chance of seeing the next month.

"Still, it took you guys long enough, what's it been? A few months since the las-what?"

Merle was silenced by Van firmly squeezing her hand, which Allen had noticed was still entwined in hers, and continued with "Merle don't say that. Everyone has it bad these days. We can't rush help."

Allen chuckled, he didn't know the catgirl as much as he knew the other people who had gone off on their adventure to stop Zaibach, but he knew enough. She was, at her heart, a very good person, even if she was quite… unladylike.

"No, Merle is right. Asturia is relatively untouched by the war and yet we don't send as much help as we should. Truth be told some of the heads of state would rather not give anything, Millerna can't wait to kick those people out of office fast enough."

"How is she anyways?" Merle asked. She had bonded with Millerna, after all besides her and Hitomi Millerna was the only other girl on their adventure. It was hard not to make friends with her.

"She's fine," Allen said a hint of something untraceable in his voice, "she's really moving into her role as a Princess, and as a healer too. She started a new medical academy, bringing in all the best minds in medicine from all around. She says she wants to help people live longer fuller lives."

"Wow, that's pretty mature for her considering most of the time she was fawning over you Allen and couldn't decide what dress to wear" Merle then started laughing, and when Allen joined in, apparently also finding Millerna's change humorous, did Van join in two. They were all quite glad to see that they still knew how to laugh.

When a man carrying a stack of hay nearly bumped into them, they decided to take their conversation somewhere where they wouldn't be in the way. They made their way towards one of the newly installed elevators, one of two that had been installed along the cliff face for faster traveling. While Allen told Merle that "No, pressing the buttons won't make the pulleys and levers work faster" "Are you sure? I could have sworn hitting a switch makes the thing work faster…" "Doesn't work that way." Van took a long look at the massive ship docked nearby.

In his mind a dim vision of several ships of this type, all constructed by Fanelian shipbuilders, bearing the Fanelian flags and colors were docked and lifting off, and behind him, over the fence that had been put up to keep people from falling over the cliffside Fanelia was thriving again. Not just back to its former glory, but far beyond what it once was. Bigger, greater.

His travels around Gaea had opened his eyes to the world. Not just the wars and bloodshed, but to the beauty of it. He loved Fanelia, no one could possibly doubt and question that, but he also realized how small and poor and… behind his country was compared to other ones. Maybe it was selfish to want things, but Van knew that he wanted more for his people.

When the wooden gates on the lift opened, and Merle pulled him in behind Allen, he took his hand in hers, and louder than he had though, he told her "Merle, one day we'll have our own _Allegiance_, whole fleets of them."


	11. Elevator

_**Elevator**_

Again Allen heard him. He wasn't shocked. And he wasn't disgusted. The accumulation of wealth, of things, never mattered to him. Anyone and anywhere else and he would have been put off by such a statement, of the envy inherent in the words. But he knew better, he knew Van better. _No one,_ he thought, _no one deserves to see his people live and thrive more than Van does. No people deserve it more than Fanelians._

They turned as the doors closed behind them, and watched the Fanelian city below them grow larger and larger as they slowly moved down towards it. Merle clung to Van's arm like a child would to their mothers dress when frightened. She didn't trust these new 'elevators'. Lots of people in Fanelia didn't, they'd never seen one before now. The rickety noise and sound of metal gears turning didn't particularly help either.

Their talk down the elevator was the usual, "How is the _Crusade_ and its crew doing?" "I heard Dryden freed another mermaid." "What _was_ in that drink you gave me?" "How goes the war effort?" It was only broken when the elevator met with some resistance in its gears and shook, causing Merle to jump into Van's arms, terrified of the "Stupid box, why do we have to ride in this crappy thing?" When Allen caught a glimpse of the long scars that ran down her left shoulder he immediately asked "My god, what happened?"

Merle caught his gaze and followed it to her shoulder. Which she immediately shifted into Van's arms for cover. She wanted to get a new shirt, a coat, _anything_ to cover it up. It made her feel ugly. Van hadn't said anything similar to that, she knew, but she still felt terrible. Allen's outburst didn't help things.

"A building fell on me and Van rescued me and now we are officially courting, so I'll thank you very much not to leer at me. I'm taken and not looking for anyone else."

Allen stood slightly dumbfounded, both by Merle's story _A building fell on her?_ and by the attitude in which she said it. _"I'm taken and not looking for anyone else."_

_Oh._

He looked at Van, who nodded, letting down Merle and letting her grab onto his arm again, holding her hand and letting her stand slightly ahead of him, her scarred shoulder being covered by his chest. "It's true. Although a building didn't quite fall on her."

"Lord Van, please tell me we didn't just start dating and already you are correcting me?" Merle gave out a mock sigh of exasperation. "Men."

"When did this happen?" Allen asked, his mind still unable to accept his two friend's newly formed relationship, though a small part of his mind told him he should have been expecting this.

"Well, the accident with a collapsing building that landed Merle in the hospital" "And in your arms" Merle suddenly cut in, "was a few weeks ago. Us, well that happened earlier this day."

"Well," Allen started, bowing to them "congratulations are in order then. I hope you two find happiness in each other."

Merle squeezed Van's hand, and they briefly looked at each other. Allen saw something there, and smiled inwardly.

"Thank you, Allen." Van finally said. "Yeah, thanks. You know, you can sometimes be sweet for a raging womanizer" Merle said, before Van again gave her a glare, scolding her words.

Allen laughed, "She's right again Van. I do deserve that one. I'm actually working on that." "Oh, what do you mean?" Van looked confused, Merle was looking out into the lift's windows, clearly not buying it. "Well, I'm trying to be more focused, less…" Allen looked for the right words, "Flirty?" Merle chimed in again, her eyes still trained on the bottom of the elevator which she so desperately wished came faster. "Yes. I realized that my behavior caused quite a bit of harm during our journey."

Allen and Merle suddenly tensed up. Allen because he realized speaking of Hitomi in front of Merle may not be such a great idea, and Merle because she quickly scanned Van's face, hoping to see if he had a bad reaction to her name being implied.

"True. Allen, you shouldn't do that anymore, you could end up hurting another poor girl's feelings."

Allen nodded, glad that a potentially awkward situation had passed. The lift finally came to a stop, the doors swinging open as the operator at the bottom of the lift lifted them up, nodding at the King and a high ranking knight pass by… followed by Merle.

They passed by several people on their way towards the castle, Van making it a point to stay and talk to any who wanted a talk with him. Allen would also listen in, offering solutions or suggestions to the problems he heard sometimes, followed by Van introducing him to his fellows, explaining the part he had in his adventure. "He's a good friend too" he would add. People would accept him after that.

Once, when Van and Allen had stopped and volunteered to help some men move some furniture that was being placed into a newly restructured house Merle sat nearby, her head propped up on her hands as she watched Van. She held no pretensions to being a "proper" woman, and was unrestricted by some of the more uptight and strict moral rules that some nobles lived by, and as such was unashamedly watching Van's body as he moved and worked. She was also under no delusion that watching him work was physically exciting her. It was quite normal, in her mind, for such a thing to happen. Not only were they both reaching their adulthood but they were now together. It's not wrong to want the person you love?

_Of course not. Humans should be less stuck up about sex._

Merle knew that some would frown on her behavior and thoughts, though she could never figure out why human culture made sex 'wrong' to talk about. _Without sex, there wouldn't be people. So what's the deal? _

She pushed those thoughts away, _Whoever says thinking or talking about sex, especially with someone you love, is wrong probably isn't getting any. _

She continued to watch Van when some shadows loomed over her, quickly followed by "You shouldn't stare so obviously Merle. What would Lord Fanel say if he caught you doing that?"

Merle looked up at the familiar voice, that of Mimi, who stood alongside Cassandra and a few other girls. Her friends from town. Cassandra, one of the only other catpeople in Fanelia, sat down near Merle, her taller body gracefully moving as she did so. Merle was jealous of Cassandra, though she would never admit it, since she was one of the few catpeople who had taken on a more shapely human form, whereas most catwomen bodies took on a more streamlined athletic look. She vaguely wondered if Van liked the voluptuous look, or he if preferred her body type. _He did have a thing for Hitomi, and I didn't see much difference between me and her._

"Merle, I can already _smell_ your lust for him. You reek of it, you're lucky I'm the only other _gatita_ around, otherwise it would be even more obvious that you want our King."

Merle shifted uncomfortable, cursing cat noses as being far more sensitive than human ones, able to pick up on the telltale signals that signified heat, lust, fear, anger and others. The other girls giggled and laughed, some of them having the faint idea as to what they meant. "Yeah, what about all of you? I can smell if from you all two. You especially Cassandra." Merle pointed out, her finger accusing each of them in turn in an obvious attempt to draw attention away from herself, "So don't act like I'm the only girl around he who has the hots for him."

Merle huffed and looked back at Van, noticing the stares of some girls around her also fell on him. Jealousy overtook her.

"Come on Merle, lighten up," Mimi said, sitting down nearby, "You can't blame us for looking, or wanting to be with him, I mean, what girl in Fanelia wouldn't want to be with him? He's strong, he's a hero, he's saved almost all our lives, and he's handsome. Frankly, it's almost unfair to all the other guys in town." The girls nodded in agreement, feeling sorry for all the men who had to sit in Van's shadow."

They sat and began talking of other things, though for most of the teenage girls in current Fanelia their lives had taken extreme turns. Where once they would be speaking of clothing they had seen at the tailors or of boys their age, they now spoke of sowing tents and blankets for people to sleep in, of the injuries they saw while working as nurses or apprentice healers. Here and there, however, they would just joke, talk as normal, and the world around them would be normal again, with running water, walls that didn't fall on you in your sleep, and of dances at the school or parties at someone's house.

All the while Merle would look back at Van, not just because she always wanted to have her eyes on him, but she felt different from her friends. As if she was apart from them. She couldn't, no matter how hard she tried, pretend that everything was ok. But then again, she knew her friend's couldn't either. Helena wasn't here, neither was Sofia or Mimi's younger sister, Bella. They were gone.

When Van's hands found themselves snaking into Merle's their entire group stopped talking.

"What?"

Van stood wondering why the chatter had stopped, it wasn't like he had never met Merle's friends before, or stopped by and said hello. They had never acted like this before.

"Oh, um I think I hear my mom calling me."

"Yeah, I got to get back to work."

"I've got to go."

And just as fast as they had arrived the girls left, some of them throwing glances back at Van and Merle as they retreated towards their destinations. Allen began to chuckle, "You know Van if Fanelia didn't know about you and Merle before they will now."

"Yeah," Merle started, getting comfortable in Van's arms, "they'll spill to everyone and anyone who will listen. In a few hours the old ladies will know, and by nightfall even the pets will know."

"Well, they'd find out sooner or later. Come on, we have to get to the castle, I need to speak with Allen about other business."

As they made their way towards the castle up above on massive foundation at the back of the city they passed by several people who had already begun giving them strange looks. Teenage girls, women and some of the older ladies began looking at Van and Merle with smiles, while Van noticed a few grins and thumbs up, a recent gesture that made its way into Fanelia, directed at him. "Oh, I guess gossip goes faster now that there aren't many walls to block it." Merle let out, immediately wishing she could take back the offensive sentences, Van just looked at her in his 'Don't say that again' look. They made their way up towards the Castle, where they took a brief stop to take a moment of silence at the unmarked graves of three soldiers in what was once a courtyard.

They finally made their way to one of the conference rooms, where a few of the Fanelian officials were already talking to their Asturian counterparts. The meeting took a brief pause to salute Lord Van and Sir Schezar, though it continued just as quick.

The meeting went on for several hours, setting up patrol routes, gauging the response to the proposed "victory gardens" that had been devised to help bolster food stores of the smaller towns, the treasury fund.

As the hours passed by Allen, and the Asturian men and women realized just how deep in trouble Fanelia was. They had heard stories from some refugees, and Allen had read Van's letters, and they had seen the outside so they had assumed it was fine, just some tumbled buildings, but they were wrong. Looking at Fanelia it seemed fine in the same way that a man with internal bleeding seems fine, Fanelia was improving, there was no doubt but improving at an uneven pace. Fixing a house is hard work, rebuilding one is even more, but figuring out how to fix several thousand houses, pay for them and feed its across a span of several hundred miles was a completely different matter.

The hours dragged on, 1 turned into 2, 2 intro 4. Soon there was a break to eat a dinner, though most people continued working as they ate. A fight broke out when two men argued over whether they even deserved to eat while so many didn't though it was resolved. Everyone's nerves were on edge.

During this small break Allen turned to Van, and began some small chat.

"I hadn't realized it was like this. I don't know why I didn't though. The entire city was razed, I guess I wasn't expecting something so…"

"Thorough?" Van offered between bites of bread. Allen nodded, and though it appalled him that one group of humans could inflict such misery on another, he was, in some sense, left with respect for the Zaibach army. They had been thorough how so many escaped was beyond him. But he didn't want to dwell on that, he looked around, hoping to catch Merle around and hopefully wave her over. He'd never admit it, but Allen found Merle's behavior comical and uplifting. Behind all the swears and blunt behavior there was a nice girl there.

"Van, where is Merle?"

"Oh, she's over right here." Van said, lifting up his tray that had been blocking Allen's view of Merle. Her head was in Van's lap, sound asleep. "She fell asleep several hours ago, these things always bore her, though she's been trying to take a better interest in them."

"You can't blame her, she wasn't born into this life was she?"

"No, she wasn't, how did you know?" Van asked while he looked down at her sleeping form, her face looking so peaceful amidst such danger.

"I once asked her what she was to you, when we first started traveling I thought she was some sort of servant, or a slave."

Van's face immediately shot up at Allen, "What? I would _never_-"

"I know that now Van," Allen quickly interrupted, keeping his voice down, "but I didn't know that before. Smaller kingdoms are prone to slavery. And with her clothes I had assumed that she was one. I'm sorry if I offended you."

"No, it's fine. But don't say that around others here, slavery is found disgusting by most Fanelians. Several decades ago, when my father was still young, Fanelia had a terrible slaver problem. Several small battles were fought with them. A small town, Irini, was hit by them. It's where Merle is from."

"Irini?" Allen asked, mentally going over the map he had previously seen a few moments ago. "I didn't see any town called Irini on your maps." He thought for a few more seconds before realization set in. "Oh."

"Exactly." Van stroked Merle's hair, for once in his life admiring how pretty it was, "It was hit hard. Merle was taken in by my mother soon after. That's why Merle doesn't own much, she didn't save much from her old home."

Van played with her hair a few more seconds, before he stopped and added "She deserves a home that won't be destroyed."

Allen put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Everyone does. And you are a good king Van, you'll make it happen."

Van looked up and sighed, his friend and thousands like her depended on him. He'd give them safety and stability. He had to. He stood up, carrying Merle in his arms, "Well, it won't happen while we sit here and talk. Allen, it seems like everyone is done with their meal. Tell them that the meeting starts back up when I arrive again."

"Oh?" Allen stood up alongside Van, handing his tray and cup to a nearby man who was collecting the same from everyone, already some people were filing back into the room, discussions filling the room. "And where are you going?"

Van smiled, "Isn't it obvious? I'm taking my sleeping beauty here to her room. I'll be back soon."


	12. Flowers, Gardens

**Author's Note: **Sorry, I recently had to write a short story for my Creative Writing class, and this took up quite a big amount of time. Even as I submit this to I have another essay due in 10 hours. Haven't started that or picked out a subject.

Anyways, here you go.

And seriously, I NEED reviews.

* * *

_**Flowers, Gardens**_

Murmuring and voices outside Merle's room woke her up. She was always slow to wake, and this time was no different and she became annoyed at the fact that she couldn't tell what the people outside were saying. _If their talking has to wake me up, then at least I should know what they are talking about._ Shaking sleep from her mind she strained her ears to listen in on the conversation but all she heard was murmurs.

_They must be whispering I can't hear what they are saying. Oh, someone is coming._

"Merle? Are you awake?"

Merle's ears suddenly perked up, "Oh Lord Van! Of course I'm awake come in!"

Van quickly walked into the room, closing the door behind him. Through the quick gap in the door Merle caught a glimpse of a few people, namely older men, ones she had seen before.

"Good morning Merle. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes I did Lord Van." Merle hugged her bed sheets closer to herself, realizing that she was only wearing her undergarments. "So who are those people outside? What were you talking about?"

"Oh them." Van turned away from Merle, looking out her window, he had noticed her state of undress. "Don't worry, you'll find out later today. Merle, are you doing anything today?"

"Um… what?" A look of confusion crossed her face, "I'll be hanging around with you of course. What else would I be doing? Why, do you need some help with some papers? I'd be happy to help you Lord Van."

Van nodded, holding up his arms. "No, nothing needs to be done today for a change. I was wondering if you'd like to come with me and just walk around the city? Spend some time together."

Merle nearly jumped up then and there, but caught herself when she again remembered her undress. "Of course I would Lord Van! But um… Oh yes, thank you." She grabbed her old worn garment that Van handed to her and as she did so she saw him turn around. _Oh right._ A grin appeared on her lips, "Lord Van… before I put on my shirt, do you want to take a look?"

She saw Van straighten up. She had no doubt in her mind that his eyes were firmly shut.

"What? Merle, that'd be improper. I'd never do that."

"Oh really? What's the difference between looking at me now and looking at me later?"

_Oh wait, I shouldn't have said that._

A small silence passed between them.

"Merle, there will no doubt be a time and a place for us to do so. But that time and place isn't today and it isn't right here."

Another moment of silence passed.

"Lord Van," Merle asked sheepishly, "have you ever… you know. Have you ever had thoughts about me?"

She saw Van shift in his stance, probably thinking something over, his answer. "Why are you asking this?"

"Well, I'd just like to know," Merle said, confidence in her voice this time. "I'm a little curious; I know most humans are pretty stuck up about something so natural. And I want to know if you can see me that way. People who grow up together usually have trouble seeing each other as more than friends, or family."

Van walked over to her window and looked out of it, hoping she couldn't see his unease at the situation. _She is right though._ Van thought, hoping the fresh air would knock some of the embarrassment from his face. For someone who was easily written off by many as 'stupid' and 'childish' Merle was surprisingly smart. He knew that she didn't go about using fancy words, and that her manners and behavior weren't what was usually expected of someone so close to royalty, but in the end, what did that matter? Fancy words and knowing which forks to use at the dinner table didn't mean smart or intelligent or mature. Van made a point to remember that some of the smartest people he knew didn't have formal educations, that most of the people out there in Fanelia heading many major projects were simple farmers or mason workers. He remembers that Merle was still expecting an answer from him.

He sighed; at least he could console himself with the fact that this wasn't the most awkward conversation they've ever had. Vague and long forgotten memories of his mother and father sitting them both down as little children and explaining why they couldn't play in the river together naked came to mind.

"Will you get mad?" he finally asked.

Over on her bed his friend put a finger to her lips, her eyes staring at the ceiling. Typical Merle pose for 'I want to look like I'm thinking but I'm actually not.' "Well," she said, crossing her arms after a few seconds "depends on the answer."

"Yes." Van admitted, in a voice far lower than usual. "Ok, now are you ready to get moving?"

"Wait, what was that? I didn't quite hear your answer Lord Van."

Van shot her a glare, both of them knowing that she did in fact hear her. How could she not with her ears? His anger quickly melted when he caught the mischievous look on her face. She meant no harm by asking.

"Yes Merle. I have had thoughts about you."

She giggled as she walked over to him and hugged his arm, joining him as they both looked through the window, gentle breezes blowing in their face as the sun rose.

"See, that wasn't hard. And I'm not mat either. So these thoughts of yours… just how raunchy are they? What part of me are you eyeing in your mind Lord Van?"

Merle felt Van tense as she hugged him, could feel him grow hotter and could hear the cough that knocked the wind out of him. _Funny and cute_ she thought.

"Merle, are you sure we should be talking about this so early in the day? Besides" he added, looking at the castle courtyard, which he noted was being filled with men and women setting up "we should take a small walk around the castle first."

"Fine, sure Lord Van. But don't think I'll let this go," she added in mock threatening tone, "Hey, what are they doing down there? Are you going to make an announcement? What, did Allen already break some poor girl's heart and start a diplomatic incident?"

Van laughed, glad to be past that other conversation. "No, he didn't do that. Yet. But he did say he was trying to be less… what did you say, 'flirty'? Maybe he won't do that." "Please Lord Van," Merle scoffed, "Guys like him like attention from women. Why do you think he kept his hair long? Lots of girls like men with long hair, makes them look like rebels or something. Plus, he probably loves it when girls come up and say stupid things like 'Oh you have pretty hair! Let me touch it, Oooh Allen!'" she moved around her room, imitating a girl swooning over Allen, the same imitation she made of Hitomi a few years before. ""Oh Allen, save me! Knight in shining armor!" No seriously, if he wasn't such a womanizer he'd be a nice guy."

"Merle, Allen is 'a nice guy'. But you are right; he could stop some of his habits." Merle came back to his side, mentioning to the people down in the courtyard, "So, what is up with those people down there Lord Van? You gonna make an announcement?" "Yeah, but not until later today. Come on, I asked you out, so let's get to it."

The new few moments were quite peaceful as they walked across the castle, and after bumping into a few people, which Merle noticed were slightly more hurried than usual, they made their way to the castle's cafeteria. They ate a modest breakfast, some bread, jelly rolls in Merle's case, eggs and some strips of bacon. Van drank juice while Merle drank some milk. "Merle, I notice you've never liked juice and always prefer milk whenever possible. Is that…" Van searched for the right words. "Is that because of your heritage or just personal preference?"

"Oh. That's a good question." Merle racked her mind for any moment when she had seen Cassandra drink juice. She then thought of her old village, what she could remember of it, and couldn't remember anything but milk or whatever being served. "I'm not sure. My friend, Cassandra, you know her right? Yeah, she always drinks milk too. I don't remember much of Irini" Merle stated, a pained expression briefly playing across her face, "but I do remember that almost no one drank juice."

Van looked at his cup, which was still half full, "Well… do you want to try some of mine? Orange juice."

Merle looked at her own cup, which was almost empty. She had devoured her food in a short amount of time, her faster metabolism demanding she did so. She was still a bit thirsty and hungry, but wouldn't dare ask for seconds. _And Lord Van is offering it. I'd be stupid to turn him down._ "Sure. Pass it here."

She took his cup, their fingers touching for an instant. She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

She put the cup to her lips and drank, noting the difference in smell between this drink and her own.

"Blegh, this tastes pretty bad." Merle had a look of disgust on her face. "And what the hell am I chewing? Is there stuff in the juice?" She handed back the terrible drink to Van, who looked puzzled and amused. "That's the pulp. It's sometimes left over when the orange is used. And what do you mean it tastes bad? I think it's pretty sweet."

Merle shrugged, and raised her own cup. "Blegh, what the? Now my milk tastes bad! This juice stuff ruins milk, I can't believe it."

"I'm a little surprised you've never drank juice before. That is slightly odd Merle."

"Have you ever kissed a girl Lord Van? Wait, no don't answer, I don't think I'd like that one. But it's the same thing, we all have chances to do something but… sometimes we don't. I've never drank juice before because I had milk around. You've _hopefully_ never kissed a girl before, even though you know you could."

Van crossed his arms, drinking the last of his juice. "I guess you are right. I never have kissed a girl and didn't have much desire to do so, I guess the same can be said for drinking juice. Or eating bacon, or anything else in the world."

"You've never kissed a girl?" Merle asked, far too eagerly for her tastes, "I mean _of course_ you've never kissed a girl. I would know about it." She added all the while her heart was doing all types of flips. _Yes, he's all mine! Take that Angela and Hitomi! I win!_

"Ok, are you done? I want to walk around a bit before I have to give that announcement."

"You still haven't told me what that is Lord Van. Hmph, I don't think I like you keeping secrets from me."

Van laughed as he handed in his dishes to one of the cafeteria staff who bowed politely. "Don't worry, I don't keep it long." He craned his neck to look at the massive clock that was hung over the entrance of the cafeteria, and another above the lines at the serving windows. Van still wasn't quite certain how these things worked, but he had been assured they were trustworthy, and, from what he had seen, looked almost alike to the inner workings of a guymelef. "Yeah, it won't be long now."

They walked out, hand in hand, to one of the castle's free gardens. "Completely empty." Merle noted. "And so pretty." Merle had always loved the Fanelia Castle gardens. They were beautiful, filled with trees, plants and flowers of all types. When she walked out from under the shade of the castle the sunlight warmed her body instantely. "I love it here."

Van walked over to a small stream that ran through the garden, sitting down and running his hand through the water. His hand broke up his reflection, and when the ripples died down Merle's own had joined his. "We used to play here a lot didn't we Lord Van?" She giggled, "I remember playing catch here." She giggled more, "I was always faster, and you always lost" she added in a sing song voice.

"Rematch?"

Merle turned to him, "You sure?" she said, staring at their reflections, "Does the king of Fanelia want to lose to a girl?"

Van laughed and started stretching, "I don' think I'll lose." He stood up, nodding that he was ready. "Alright, if that's what you want Lord Van" Merle said, shrugging and smiling, "I'll try not to catch you too soon."

Van laughed, and turned around.

"Alright, ready…"

Van set down in the same starting pose he had seen Hitomi use a few times.

"… ok. So, ready…. Set… go!"

Van dashed away, startling Merle with his speed. "Wow, he's faster than before."

She started counting to ten, and decided instead to count to three, otherwise she really wouldn't catch him. She sprinted after him, running on all fours to cover more ground, her cat body having developed a natural affinity for speed and agility. She nearly caught up to him when he suddenly jumped head on into a stream that cut through the garden, and she barely skidded to a halt before hitting the water herself.

"Hey, that's not fair! Cheater! Lord Van is a cheater!" she yelled at him, only to hear "Says the girl who counted three instead of ten!" His voice slowly becoming faint as he continued on his way. "Well, he's got me there." Merle reflected, looking for the old bridge to cross the small river.

She hated getting drenched in water. She could handle water in a cup, in a small tub, after all she did shower, but being in a large body of water scared her on some instinctual and basic level.

She crossed the bridge, noticing that they were in the section of the garden that only stretched a few ways ahead before being blocked by castle walls again. She didn't hear any splashing, which meant he hadn't crossed the river back. He was cornered.

But then, he was cornered in an area that gave him the advantage.

The flowers around her smelled beautiful, there were too many of them, their scents almost overpowering her sense of smell. He had led her to a place that ruled out her superior sense of smell. All she had now were her eyes and ears.

She wandered around the garden, looking past giant flowers, up to the tree branches and over hedges that lined the entire area.

As time went on she realized she was having fun. It might seem stupid to just look for someone and have fun while doing it, but she was.

She realized that the last time they had done this they were small children. He was 8, she was 6.

_Ha, that's when I first started liking him._

And smiled, and her laughter switched from internal to external. She laughed and giggled, _And now I'm 14 and he's 16. He's a war hero and the leader of a nation, and I'm his girlfriend._

She found it quite funny.

_I wonder… when will be the next time we do this._

She pictured herself older: tall and beautiful and graceful like Naria or Eriya, running through the fields. She was running on her legs though, not using all fours as she had done a while ago. It looked much more lady-like she decided. And then Van followed. He was tall and handsome, but he would and always had been to her. They ran through the fields, laughing and smiling. Van caught her, _Yeah right_, and they fell to the ground.

They whispered sweet things to each other.

Merle's heart warmed in her chest, a funny feeling coming from down near her stomach or lower. It felt nice.

She wasn't paying attention, which was when Van decided to make his move. He darted out from behind some cover he had set up and tried running past her.

The sudden gush of wind beside her knocked Merle out of her fantasy and she spotted Van running away. "Oh no you don't!" She started running after him, over flowers, past trees and rows of smaller plants, they jumped over small hedges, over a small log and over benches that had been placed across the garden.

They were laughing and smiling, calling out taunts to each other, Van insisting that he couldn't lose, and Merle insisting that past games said otherwise.

Van laughed. He noticed that Hitomi's advice on running was actually quite good. _Van, when you run you shouldn't swing out your hands to the sides, for Christ sakes, you look like a cartoon!*_ He didn't know what a cartoon was, or who this Christ was either, but the advice was sound. He was running faster than he ever had before. He turned back to Merle, her running technique being naturally devised, she would always catch him before.

When he turned back it was all over.

Van stumbled, his foot hitting a small rock he didn't see, and Merle took the chance to jump from all fours right into him. He turned around just in time to put out his hands to grab her when they fell together and rolled in the grass behind them. They rolled around for a while, laughing at themselves, at their fun, at the stupid rock that made Van eat his words and proved Merle right.

"I told you I'd always catch you Lord Van. Made you feel quite silly didn't I?" Merle said into his chest, her arms still wrapped around him , getting comfortable in his own embrace. Something was brushing up against her ear, "Oh what?" she said, feeling twigs, grass and flowers in her hair. She sighed, letting go of Van to comb herself, ancient animal instincts taking over. Van looked at her and laughed, his own hair tangled and mixed with grass and twigs. "Well we did hit the ground hard and rolled about for a bit. You should get that out of your hair too Lord Van." She reached over to his hair, her hands suddenly being stopped, held in Van's owns hands. "It's fine Merle," he said in a low voice, his chest slightly vibrating under Merle's body. "Here" he said, grabbing a nearby flower, a lily and putting it in her hair.

"Thank you Lord Van." Merle said, hugging him tightly. Her heart fluttered when she felt his arms around her. He then started playing with her hair, Merle's tail swaying in the breeze.

A blush crept up across her cheeks, her body warmed up, her head swam.

_I love him so much._

It was barely morning and already she felt like the day was perfect. Her heart kept dancing and she got that great feeling near her stomach again.

Van looked down at the girl on top of him, feeling not only her heart beat increase but his own. _She looks beautiful_ he thought. Her tanned skin, her athletic body, her soft hair. Sunlight filtered through the canopy of trees above them bathing her and giving everything around them an otherworldly glow. He smelled flowers. He wondered how he never truly saw her before. She'd been right in front of him all his life and he never really looked at her. But he would now.

And then they didn't need words. The feeling is all they needed. They met each other's gaze, and then, in a garden on a sunny morning they kissed.

* * *

*Why is it in animus and mangos that everyone runs with their arms swinging out to the sides instead of the proper way? People should look like ls when they run, not like Ts.

Anyways, longer chapter than usual to make up for delay. Hope you like it.


	13. Speak, Kiss Me Again

**Author's Note: **Ugh, I didn't realize there was such a gap between updates. Sorry about that. I have finals coming up next week, and after that I have 2 months of summer vacation to look forward to, so more updates will be coming in more frequently after these next two weeks.

* * *

_**Speak, Kiss Me Again**_

Allen scanned the area around him, hoping to catch sight of Van or Merle. He frowned; it wasn't like Van to be late to such an important event. Whenever someone would pass by he would politely ask if they'd seen him or his accomplice recently, or at all. After a few minutes of questioning he gathered that he and Merle had eaten breakfast together and then disappeared for the day. He chuckled, his mind connecting the dots, explaining Van's tardiness. He was a man, and he had had numerous romances in his life. This was, as far as he knew, Van's first relationship. A smile formed on his face, he was genuinely happy for the both of them.

A man walked over to him, a hurried expression on his face. "Sir Schezar, have you perhaps seen Lord Fanel recently?" Allen simply shrugged, "I haven't seen him since yesterday. I'm sure he'll be here on time. He always is."

"Yes, I'm sure you are right Sir Schezar."

"Of course I am Van wouldn't miss this for the world. Now just keep up the work and getting people on here. When he does show up we want everything ready for him don't we?"

"Of course." The man said, pounding his fist into his hand, looking calmer than before. "We'll get to it. If you do see him tell someone that we may start."

Allen nodded, and returned to looking around the area. About him several Fanelians, and a few of the Asturians, were running busily about, gathering flags and banners to hang from stands, spears stuck into the ground and from some of the balconies. It had been this way for a few hours now, with most of the set up simply consisting of alerting the townsfolk and gathering them at the bottom of the stairs to the palace. Allen had taken up a place leaning against one of the walls, simply watching and waiting for Van to show himself. He'd been asked once to move to allow a banner to be hung from the wall he rested on, and had his long and boring wait broken by a daily report from one of his men that patrolled the outer towns.

It was not long after much of the town had gathered before the castle and the preparations had been finished that Van, with Merle following closely behind, appeared. Allen walked over to his friends, noticing that Merle was quite surprised about all this. Van probably hadn't told her.

"Van they've been waiting for you for quite a while now, I think they wanted to go over your speech with you."

The young king rolled his eyes and sighed, "They probably would. But I didn't write one. I don't give big flowery speeches, everyone knows that. Good news should come from here," he motioned at his heart, "not from a piece of paper."

Men and women rushed up to him, Merle feeling uneasy in the middle of the small crowd that had suddenly formed around her with Van. She also felt uneasy because she didn't know what was going on.

"What's going on Lord Van? This doesn't seem normal."

"No, it isn't." Van simply said, waving away his people who hurried to stand to the sides, in a neat single row.

Merle caught a glimpse of one of the maids, Maria, to follow. "Merle!" she tried to whisper over the commotion, "get over here." Allen, who was also standing in a row, his knights behind him, caught the exchange, and frowned. _What? How stupid. Merle should be able to stay up there with Van._

The catgirl tried. She was never part of the royal house, and so, like all other commoners, had to stand off to the side. It didn't matter that she was Van's best friend and girlfriend, rules had to be followed. She reached up and kissed Van's check, "I'll be back in a bit Lord Van."

"Where are you going?"

"Well I'm going over there."

"Why?" Van said, still holding on to her and, she realized, walking her towards the podium.

"Well Lord Van, I can't stand up here with you. I-"

Merle was cut off by the thunderous applause that began when the crowd caught glimpse of their leader. She couldn't make out any single phrase; all their voices were mixing together as one giant cheer. She suddenly felt very nervous and embarrassed, something which she never felt normally. She felt Van squeeze her hand reassuringly, and she turned back to view the large crowd and the crowd, for their part, noticed her. A temporary break in the cheering passed, probably as word spread around of their relationship, or as people realized the rumors were true.

Merle suddenly felt an odd feeling of disapproval. _Maybe they won't like us together?_ She suddenly began to ask herself questions, maybe Fanelia would disapprove of a human _gata_ relationship? She wanted to protest, to say she wanted to leave when she was again cut off by the clapping, the laughter, the cheers and praise that was heaped on them. Van let them continue like this for a few moments, before raising his hands, indicating he wanted them to settle down. He approached his podium that had been set up before him and began to speak.

She knew she should have been listening to him, but she wasn't.

Something else was on her mind.

She and Van had just shared their first kiss. It was wonderful. She touched her lips and stole a glance at Van, looking at his as he talked. Her lips tingled, they still felt as if Van was still kissing them, she felt a smile form, her happiness unable to contain itself. She knew she'd look like an idiot smiling all the time in the middle of a speech, but she couldn't stop it.

_Dammit girl, stop grinning like an idiot._

Besides being unable to stop smiling, she noticed everything seemed brighter. The sun was brighter, the flowers around the castle entrance had more color than she had ever seen them, she felt the breeze was far cooler and gentler than she had ever known it. Breathing was wonderful, Van's hand felt wonderful in hers. The sky was bluer.

She had no idea what was going on, but she was sure everything was better.

She also knew that something in her heart had changed dramatically. She had loved Van for a long time, but now that love was different. It wasn't far away, it wasn't a dream. Her doubtful side could chatter and scream and nay say all it wanted, she _knew_ that Van loved her back. He hadn't said it, he hadn't mentioned any love beyond what he usually felt for her, no romantic love, but she was sure he loved her.

_I love you Lord Van._

She squeezed his hand and though he didn't turn away from the crowd before him or stop his speech he squeezed back in turn.

She did, however, begin to pay attention when she heard the words "important news".

"Thanks to the continued support and help of those in Asturian, Princess Millerna, Sir Schezar, Sir Dryden, King Chid, the crew of the _Allegiance_ and of course the hard work and dedication if you, my fellow Fanelians, I am pleased to announce that out rationing of food and medicine, that the supplies ferried in nonstop everyday and the harvests being collected by our dedicated farmers, that the city of Fanelia finally has it's stocks of supplies replenished. There is now enough food, water and medicine for everyone in the city."

A giant cheer arose from the crowd before them, people threw up their hats and hugged each other. Some openly crying. The officials arrayed behind Van and Merle clapped too, some ignoring formality and hugging each other, a few ran into the crowd to hug their family members. Merle was shocked, and tugged at Van's arm. "What? Why didn't you tell me?"

Van merely motioned for her to settle down, he'd explain later. He turned back to his people, letting them enjoy the moment, after a while they settled down again, and he continued.

"Now, while this is great news, we also have to acknowledge the reality of the situation. The past year and a half has not been easy on any of us, we have all lost people dear to us, we've all suffered loss of the greatest measure."

Merle thought on the scars that spread across her back shoulder. They were trivial in comparison to some of the injuries some had endured. They were meaningless to people who had lost loved ones.

"We must remember those who gave their lives so that this moment could be. The brave men and women who fought during Zaibach's attack to allow all of us to escape, and those who gave their lives in the ruins so that our city may be safer, and so that our children can sleep in safe homes."

"I ask for a moment of silence, that we may pray that those souls have found final safety with the gods and a measure of peace at knowing that their families here in this world are that much safer."

Several moments passed in silence, Van turning to Merle to hug her closely. Off in the distance a baby started to cry followed by the sounds of the mother weeping. No one told her to be quiet, some joined in with her.

Their momentary reflection on the dead finished, Van returned to speaking.

"Now, what I will say next is perhaps what many of you do not want to hear but…" Merle caught a few of the people leaning forward, and a few already start groans of protest. Those that did were quickly scolded by their peers. "I ask you all to continue to eat responsibly, and that food rationing will continue for the foreseeable future. We must continue this practice to make sure that our stocks continue to grow, and I will not lie to you. It will be harder eating only bread and water knowing that we can now afford more, but it would be even harder if we ate away all our hard earned work simply because we could and end up with nothing left to show for it."

"I will, however, leave you with some good news."

Merle looked over at Van. _What could be better news? We have food! Medicine!_

"Because the stocks of Fanelia are now refilled our treasury can now afford to slack in the area of buying those stocks again. Because of this, we now have some money left over. After deliberating for quite some time on what to do with this money, we've decided. All shop owners, inn keepers, bar owners, blacksmiths, tailors, carpenters, and any other men of business, we would like you to report to the castle's east wing." Murmurs began to rise up from the crowd, "there" he continued, "you will find a temporary area that has been set up. Speak to the people there, and we will make preparations to begin funding your businesses again."

Van suddenly turned back to Merle, leaning in closely. "I'm not really sure what to say anymore."

"What?" Merle asked incredulously. She suddenly regretted the tone in her voice, and continued calmer this time. "What do you mean? You are doing fine. You've given them great news, look how happy they are. Look how happy everyone is Lord Van!"

Van looked nervous, he always was. Merle had noticed that he was always nervous when he gave speeches in front of everyone, though for the life of her she couldn't tell why. She hadn't asked either, even though she continuously meant to do so.

"Ending is always the hardest part. I never know where to go from here."

Merle smiled, gently caressing his arm. "Just tell them how you feel."

He looked back, the crowd before him seemingly fine with his quick aside with Merle. He simply stared at them for a long time.

_Ha. I really am terrible at this._

He thought back on some of the history lessons he had undertaken in his youth. He'd heard of previous kings and queens from Fanelia and other lands. Men and women who moved people to tears, joy or anger with poetic words. He had none of that, he knew. He gave speeches that were to the point, and though he attempted to put some style into what he said, he knew it was nowhere near the sheer art others could do.

So he said all he could say.

"Thank you."

A wave of applause and cheer began, with some of the guards coming down and ushering in the men and women who came up to begin their way to the east wing. Since Fanelia city was quite a tight knit community all the owners of businesses were easily recognizable, some even had their original proof of ownership to now burned down taverns and stores.

The men up on the stage with him began clapping, a few came to shake his hand. He noticed a few of the villagers had already walked up the stops to the castle and were also coming in his direction. He heard his name being shouted in cheers from the audience before him, several congratulations being throw at him. However, before any of them made it to him, he simply turned on his heel, faced the girl wrapped around his arm, the girl that had been hugging him and holding his hand throughout the speech, and leaned in and kissed her.

Merle's heart tumbled around inside of her. She couldn't believe it. Her lips were still tingling from their earlier kiss in the garden, she could still feel the sunshine, the happiness and the tender love from their first kiss, she had felt elation at knowing that Fanelia was not one but two steps closer to being fully healed again, she had felt special when Van brought her up to his side while he addressed his nation and relief when Fanelia had accepted their relationship and now she was kissing Van, the love of her life, again. And again and again.

When their lips parted the first time they simply looked at each other, their eyes shining with something that was always meant to happen, with a flame that had been kept dark for far too long. They grinned like stupid idiots, like a man and a woman who had just discovered kissing for the first time in all of Gaea's history. And so they kissed again, a second time and a third time. As they kissed they couldn't help but form smiles as they did so. They looked more like they were putting their smiles together than actually kissing. When they finally realized that they were being watched by several thousand people they stopped.

What followed was an almost endless tide of grateful men and women coming up to shake Van's hand, some of them looking as if the news was the only thing that kept them alive this day. Some hugged him and cried on his shoulder, a few of the women and girls kissed him on his cheeks or hands, something which would have caused Merle's extreme jealous had the situation been different, others shook his hand vigorously, thanking him and praising all his work. Even Merle had her fair share of praise heaped on her. It was an odd experience for her, she didn't think she deserved any of it, she hadn't done any real work, but she went along with it.

Finally, when Van and Merle had felt they had hugged, shook hands with and been patted on the back by every citizen in the city, Allen came up to them. He gave Merle a friendly smile, one she returned, before turning to Van.

Merle watched them both, finding it odd that such good friends exchanged so little words. They simply shook hands, a firm handshake, one that lasted longer than the others. Allen nodded, "You are a good king." is all he said. And Van seemed to take the compliment in stride. Merle knew he didn't think so, he was probably arguing in his head whether he wanted to say "You're too kind" or "Please, I do what I can" but he didn't.

Allen smirked, stepping back and looking at them both, he finally asked "So… you two finally got around to the kissing stage?"

Both Van and Merle shifted uncomfortably, though they didn't know why. "You saw that did you?" Van asked, stealing a glance at Merle. Allen's laugh was full and hearty, a laugh he didn't usually use. "Van, I don't think anyone in the city could have missed it… could have missed _them._ What was it? 3?"

It was Merle who corrected him, "4, if you have to know."

"4? I only counted 3." Allen retorted, his eyes full of amusement.

"Well you weren't there for the first one."

"Oh, the _first one?"_

"Yup," Merle stated, her body becoming warmer as she recalled the experience. "Van kissed me in the morning over in the garden."

"Oh really? So you two disappeared for an entire morning so you two could go off and kiss in a bed of flowers? Van, I didn't know you were such a romantic." He laughed again, drawing attention from some of the people nearby.

_Allen is enjoying this too much_, Van thought in his head. He would have never guessed that Allen of all people would tease him so much over kissing a woman, particularly Merle.

He gave her a firm squeeze, his arm draping across her shoulder. "I'm sorry Merle, Allen, but I should go look over the process in the east wing."

"Mmmhmh, of course Lord Van, do you want me to come with you?"

Allen nodded, "I haven't had much time to talk to either of you since I arrived. You don't have much to do today correct?"

Van looked thoughtful for a moment, "No, I'm just going to oversee things, check for any problems that might arise. But it's not heavy work like the past few days. There is no construction work for the next few days either since some of the planners haven't decided how to proceed on the areas that need work."

"So, you are basically free for the next days?" Merle asked with excitement. "We get to be together all day?" She looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

Allen stood closer to them, his calm demeanor hiding his excitement. Few would know, but Allen also looked forward to spending time with his friends.

Van simply laughed, he knew them both better than they thought he did. "For the next few days, it's just us three."


	14. Rare Item on Sale

**Author's Note: **Goddamit. I am very sorry for not updating this earlier. I thought I'd have more free time now that I'm on a vacation, but my friends thought otherwise. Recent exploits include driving 4 hours at 5 AM to get pancakes. 4 hours. For pancakes.

* * *

_**Rare Item on Sale**_

A few weeks ago Merle would have thought the marketplace was depressingly empty. Only a few of the buildings, the stores, had survived the attack of Zaibach and still stood after the abandonment of Fanelia. That left many of the surviving store owners without a building to sale their wares from, and of these only a few even had the means to acquire wares to sell in the first place. The result was that out of the near fifty stores that thrived before the attack only six stores were open. And due to the troubled times that Fanelia was experiencing the stores didn't have much to sell. A few still had the odd toy or dress that had survived, but most had switched to selling extra food or medicines.

_But now…_

Merle smiled, holding on to Van's arm as he talked to an ecstatic trader who had just re-opened her store. She was looking out towards the market, happy that so many people had already moved in, the commotion of several stores being reopened filling the area with the sounds of laughter, talking and people calling out prices. Only a few of the shops were opened, and only a few more would be opened, but Merle knew that it was a start.

She kept looking at through the window, until her eyes fell on Allen.

_Ugh. What's he doing in my view? What does he want?_

Allen was nodding at something behind her.

_Huh?_

She turned around and saw Van and the shop owner looking at her, waiting for her to say something. Merle sighed embarrassedly, cursing herself for tuning out their conversation. "I'm sorry, but I really wasn't paying attention." She giggled at herself, hoping her beautifully charming laughter would keep them from yelling at her.

The store owner simply laughed too, oblivious to the stare Van was giving Merle and the smirk from Allen. "What Miss Lor her was saying Merle, is that she's very happy to be able to open her father's store while he is in the hospital. And she's invited us to a drink."

"A drink?"

From behind her Allen spoke up, "We are in a wine shop Merle."

She quickly shot glanced around the shop, noting several bottles of wine stacked in racks along walls. Unlike other stores, wine shops didn't have to worry about their stocks going bad with time.

"Oh, so we are… A drink? Isn't it a bit early in the morning to be drinking Lord Van?"

The owner wasn't paying attention to her worries; she had already pulled out a bottle and motioned the group to sit down. "Oh good gods, I never expected to drink with royalty before. Is a '82 Torni Fields good enough?"

Van and Merle exchanged glances and shrugged. Allen, eyeing the bottle of wine spoke up as he took a seat near them. "Torni Fields makes good wine, and '82 was a good year for them. I'm surprised you have one of these, they are quite valuable."

The blonde noted the looks of surprise on his friends, and before taking a sip of his wine he continued, "As a Knight of Caeli I am usually posted at ballroom parties and gatherings of royals in Asturia, and over the years I've picked up a fondness for wine."

"What a surprise" Merle drawled, "flirty knight knows how to drink wine. Bet all your girlfriends were drunk when they said yes to you." She started laughing at her own joke, and thankfully Lor joined her. "Yeah, I heard Sir Allen is a lady killer, is that right?" "It is," Merle cut in, ignoring the glare Allen was giving her and the amused look on Van's face, "he flirts with anyone with a pulse."

The two girls laughed together, making joke's at Allen's expense for a while before Lor noticed Van's glass was relatively untouched. "Lord Fanel, you don't like the wine? I can try another bottle if you want me to?" she jabbed a finger at the racks of wines behind her.

"No, it's quite fine Miss; I'm just not too fond of drinking." Van said, looking down at his glass.

"Lord Van just can't hold his liquor," Merle chimed in, obviously a little tipsy from the drinks she had been downing. "Plus, he's had terrible experiences with alcohol before. Remember Lord Van, when your dad caught you drinking ale when you were 13?"

Allen, finally glad to have the topic drift away from him, jumped on the chance to hear embarrassing stories about his friend. "I haven't heard this story, what happened?"

Miss Lor leaned in, sharing Allen's eagerness to hear the story. _The King can't hold his alcohol!_

"Well…" Merle started, her face slightly flushed from all her drinks, "if I recall, Lord Van here was trying to impress me by showing how grown up he is by drinking some of the "adult drinks" in the castle kitchen."

"I don't remember it going that way Merle." Van cut in, trying to stop her story.

"Nonsense Lord Van!" Merle countered, wrapping her arms around him, making 'shush' noises at him, much to the amusement of the others, "It was back when you kept trying to impress me all the time remember? You tried showing me you could swing a sword, you tried flying, you tried singing and you tried drawing!" She nuzzled his chest, hugging him tightly, "He was _sooo_ cute! Trying to impress me. If I didn't know better I'd say he had a crush on me back then."

Van blushed; attempting to look away from Merle's knowing eyes.

"Speaking of which," Lor cut in, pouring himself another glass of the ruby liquid. "How did you and the kingdom's favorite little _gatita_ end up together?" Van and Merle were about to begin talking when she pre-empted them with a correction, "Wait, let me rephrase that. What took you so long?"

They both looked at each other, unsure of how to continue. Both knew it had to do with Hitomi and Van's relationship, but didn't want to actually say anything. Merle didn't want to bring it up because she always had a nagging voice at the back of her mind telling her that Van is only with her because he can't be with Hitomi. It was stupid, she knew, but it continuously bugged her. She'd never tell this to Van, she'd kept her worries hidden, but she knew sooner or later she'd have to tell him. Van, for his part, didn't want to say anything but he knew about Merle's worry. She could read him like an open book, but Van often thought that she wasn't aware that he could do the same to her. He'd let her talk when she was ready though.

They both realized, however, that this wasn't the place to bring up such a topic, and thankfully so did Lor and Allen.

"Well Lord Fanel, Sir Allen and Merle," Lord said, clapping her hands and standing up, "I think I've kept you here long enough. Why don't you go out and visit some of the other stores? Gods know you need to relax sometimes, you do enough hard work."

The group thanked Lor for her hospitality, with Van and Allen surreptitiously leaving behind some money to pay for their drinks, and soon they found themselves outside again.

"Well she was nice." Allen said afterwards, stepping out with his friends to the marketplace. Van and Merle merely nodded, Merle sighing again and squeezing Van's hand.

"We're just walking around today?" He asked, smiling at the backs of his two friends, their closeness giving him a sense of happiness.

"That's the plan isn't it Lord Van?" Merle hugged herself closer to her love; she could never be _too_ close to him. She always wanted to be a bit closer. "Allen, what are you doing walking behind us? We aren't kids to be looked after you know!"

"Really? I wouldn't know that from your behavior."

They two continued to playfully bicker all throughout the day. Van made it a point to visit every single store and ask the owners how they were doing, if they needed anything and asked if they had any other. And the shop owners, for their part, would always invite him to stay a while, thanking him for this opportunity to restart their businesses, to help out their country by being the backbone of their entire land's commerce. They would always attempt to give him, Allen or Merle free gifts. Van and Allen would always reluctantly refuse, while secretly leaving money behind to pay back for the gift. Merle, on the other hand, would eagerly accept them, leaving Van to leave extra money to pay for her gifts too.

"Oh, that place looks great!" Merle ran off towards one of the trader stalls, one of many that had been set up alongside the reopened buildings. She stopped at a nearby stall, eyeing some of the items on display.

"Van, if you don't mind me asking…" the tall man began, looking at his friend. They had both stayed back, letting Merle look at the stall by herself. "Well, when you all came aboard the _Crusade_, it was pretty obvious that you were close to Merle. You were never far from each other, and she always talked about you." Van fidgeted under Allen's words. "It was pretty obvious to anyone that she was smitten by you… very much so in fact. So what held you back from returning those feelings?"

"Well…" he began, his eyes falling over the catgirl in front of them. It felt quite odd for him, and at the same time quite good, to finally notice her features.

_She's very pretty._ He thought, noticing her womanly body.

"Van?"

"Oh right. I was just thinking about what you asked me. And, I'm not sure myself."

Allen folded his arms across his chest, deep in thought. "Maybe you were just so used to her being there, that you never considered her anything more?"

A frown appeared over Van's face. _He's right. That's exactly what it was. _"I feel so stupid." He looked up when he felt a hand fall on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Van. You realized it, and you are both young. Some people never realized the feelings of others throughout their whole lives."

The younger man nodded, Allen's words relieving some of his guilt, "Yeah. You are right. I should talk to her about this soon; I know she's picked up that I've felt this way for a while now. While I'm at it I should ask her when she started seeing me as more than a friend." Van's train of thought was cut off when Allen suddenly laughed, causing a few of the nearby village people to stare at him

"I'm sure you should Van. But I think I can take a guess."

"Lord Vaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

Merle's yell stopped Van from asking what Allen meant by that, instead he turned his view to see his girlfriend frantically waving him over. Neither of them had any idea what could make her even more excited, much less required her to yell him over from across the market. They walked over to her, catching her by a stall that seemed to sell all manner or miscellaneous items. Toys, trinkets, souvenirs, and the like. The owner, an old and graying wolf-man bowed before his king and the knight.

"What is it Merle?" Van asked, noting some of the odder wares the man sold, including shrunk and dried lizards and an old rusted sword.

"Look," she said, pointing at a heap of objects piled on a blanket the man had set up. Van wasn't sure what exactly he was looking for, it all seemed like random items to him. Then, finally, after Merle pointed and gestured again, he caught it.

A gasp from nearby told him that Allen had also seen it.

"Where did you get this?" he breathlessly asked the man, kneeling down to examine the object up close.

"Lord Fanel, I found it a few nights ago along a road as I came back here. I thought it looked interesting, so I picked it up. It caught your eye did it?" he added, smiling.

Merle and Allen huddled around Van, paying almost no attention to the old wolfman's words. The object Van held in his hand would seem completely bizarre to any other Fanelian, to any other Gaean.

Its top was grey while its bottom was black, and made of a material not known to the science on Gaea. Off to one of the sides were hanging strings that were attached to what looked to be ear warmers. There was a small mirror near the front of the object, flanked by a few recessed squares on the sides. Symbols were engraved on these squares, though none of the three knew what they were for. The only recognizable symbols were arrows, though why one was simply the point, why two were followed by lines and why one faced the opposite direction was beyond them.

Pressing one of these squares popped open the lid on the object, prompting Merle to let out a quick cry of surprise.

"That's pretty odd. Whoever built that chest doesn't know much about boxes do they? It doesn't seem to be able to hold anything." The owner added, catching sight of the entire event. Merle simply nodded, though she knew this wasn't meant to be a box.

"I'll take it." Van suddenly said, "I don't care about the price." Merle and Allen nodded, they knew this was important.

"Lord Fanel, I don't want to second guess my King but, I don't really recommend it. It's a pretty terrible box. It can't hold anything…"

"It's fine sir, but this item is very important. How much do you want for it?"

The old one sighed, if his King, the King's mate and the tall knight wanted an item, who was he to say no? He rubbed his chin, trying to think up of a price. "How about 4?"

"4 is fine." Van said, handing the object to Merle, who began fiddling with it and examining it closely. He reached into his pocket and drew 4 gold coins, along with 4 extra.

"Oh no Lord Fanel, I couldn't.

"It's fine sir. Take it."

While Van tried to persuade the old wolfman to take the extra tip, Allen looked over Merle's shoulder at the object, both of them trying to comprehend the alien writing that dominated most of the black underside of the object.

"What do you think it means?"

Merle shrugged, turning the thing over in her hand, her eyes falling on the words that dominated the top grey area.

SONY

WALKMAN

ESPMAX CD-R/RW


	15. Faraway Lands

_**Faraway Lands**_

Van, Merle and Allen sat just outside the city of Fanelia, beyond the first castle walls, in the field that stood between the narrow cliff pass and the city itself. Before it had been a simply plain, created primarily for defense, to give any would be attackers a long stretch of land with no cover to advance through while under fire from Fanelian archers.

Now it was a form of park. Wild and quick growing trees, flowers and grass had grown in the large expanse of area when Fanelia was left abandoned, and when the children quickly grew to enjoy spending their time hiding, playing and running along the area no one had the heart to cut it down and clear it away.

The three were sitting on a stone bench, simply two round and squat marble bases supporting a marble bench. The various items they had received from the shop owners, along with a few they had bought of their own free will, were scattered around them, either in bags or on their own. Merle was busy eating some jelly rolls and drinking from a small pouch of milk. Sitting beside her was Van, with Allen standing beside them, both eating roasted iguana on a stick. Van drank water, while Allen was still taking shots from a small wine bottle he had bought at Lor's store.

Merle rolled her eyes at him, _Still drinking. Is he an alcoholic?_

She offered her sweetheart some of her food, who nodded, about to take the food from her hands.

"No!" she stated, pouting.

"But-"

"No Lord Van. Open your mouth, I'll feed you." Merle held a jelly roll in her hands, the food held inches away from Van. The younger man hesitated, a bit of embarrassment washing over him due to Allen's amused stare at the couple. It was only when Allen thankfully turned away did Van indulge Merle's request.

"There!" she said, giggling and hugging him.

Allen walked back over to them, stretching and taking a seat on the bench next to Van. "Ah… what a day. What did you two buy?"

"Nothing much," Van said, reaching down and picking up the few items he had actually bought for himself, "a book I found from a trader."

The older man looked over, noting the large leather bound book held by his friend's hands. He held it with an extreme care, as if the book were about to crumble at the slightest mishandling. "You have an interest in reading Van? I never pictured you for the type."

Merle huffed, "What, are you saying Lord Van isn't smart?"

"It's fine Merle. When was the last time you saw me with a book? A book that I was reading simply to read and pass time?"

"Well…" she began, thinking hard on any such time.

Van's hearty laugh broke through her thoughts; she loved it when he laughed. Simply forgetting what she was attempting to recall, she hugged him, enjoying the feeling of his body rocking as his laughter poured out. "It's true that I didn't use to read much but now…"

Van shrugged, unsure of how to continue.

"Well, I guess I just needed a new hobby."

"What is the book about?" the older man said between bites of his food.

"Astronomy," Van said, the foreign word slowly escaping his lips, "the study of…" he flipped through the book, "celestial objects."

Merle quickly perked her ears, jumping into the conversation, "Oooh I love that stuff! Lord Van read me my fortune!"

"I'd also like to hear mine. Blue, third moon."

Van looked at his friends with a smile, "No, it's not that type of astronomy. This is different."

Merle frowned, "What other type of astronomy is there?" Though Allen didn't say anything, he also agreed with her, _That's the only astronomy I can think of._

"Well, the writer says that that type of astronomy isn't real, that you can't tell a person's future based on the time they are born. But, most of the book", he said, changing pages and reading the titles of chapters, "are about his theory that the Mystic Moon isn't the center of the Universe. He says that the sun, Helios, is the center of the Universe."

Allen raised an eyebrow, finding such a proposition quite odd. He had read, though not as much as he would want to, that the idea that the Mystic Moon being in the center of the Universe was quite well established.

"Hitomi once said something like that too."

Both of the male heads turned towards her, causing her to jump in surprise not realized they had heard her comment. "Yeah, once when we were on your ship Allen, we were looking out at the stars. She seemed homesick or something, so I started talking to her about her home, about the Mystic Moon."

"Really?" Allen said, finding interest in the topic. They suddenly looked around; making sure no one was around. "She talked to you about the Mystic Moon? What did she say?"

"Well," she started, getting cozy in Van's arms. "I just asked her what she thought stars were. She said that on Earth, that's what her people call the Mystic Moon, they know what stars are, big burning fires in space. She also said that they can build giant ships that can take people to their Moon, and that some of her people even talk of building cities on other planets."

"What?" Allen said, confusion and skepticism deep in his voice. "How can they do that? I've spent most of my military career on airships, so I know how levistones work, but I've never heard of a levistone that takes you to other planets."

Merle shrugged, "I don't get it either. She said that her people are really advanced; she even said Zaibach would be seen as primitive to her people. But she _also_ said that we have some things they don't. The Mysti- um… Earth, never built guymelefs, they don't' have levistones, they don't have dragons, they don't have us _gatas_, or other types of people, just your types." she said, pointing at Van and Allen.

"No levistones? No dragons? No guymelefs? How do they live?" Van asked, causing Merle to shrug yet again.

"Apparently much better than us. She said that even commoners have better lives than royalty, and even then, most countries no longer have royalty, democracy she called it, they got rid of their kings and queens and made everyone equal. She said the entire world has been mapped, and people have been everywhere. They build giant cities with great big towers and millions of people live in each city. They have better medicine than us, they can build bigger and better things, a person can go to the other side of the world in as little as a day in an airplane- which I guess is like our airships?- and they have these things called computers that store all of Earth's knowledge." Merle laughed, seeing the same looks on Allen and Van that she had when Hitomi first told her about Earth. "I wouldn't have believed it, but she showed me pictures! She had books from her school, they had pictures!"

She turned in Van's lap, facing him full on, "Oh their cities are so beautiful Lord Van! Their buildings are built so high, but they don't fall over, they look like they are made from crystals, and at night they start glowing! Oh Lord Van, they look soo romantic!" she hugged him, the image of her and Van eating at the restaurant McDonalds, and then kissing underneath the torches of Toe-key-oh city.

Van was silent for quite a while, trying to picture the world were Hitomi came from, the world she called home. He laughed and chuckled, he could imagine a vague outline, but from Merle's description his imagination was simply not enough. He also suddenly began wondering if every nation will someday end up like Zaibach, or even more advanced. Hitomi's people did, maybe his would too one day?

He pushed that all from his mind, instead focusing on the girl in his lap before him surprising her by pulling her into a long and playful kiss.

Allen turned away, noticing that the sun was setting, and that the stars and the Mystic Moon and its smaller sister were visible in the sky. His mind too struggled to imagine her world. Her world sounded so much like the tales of the old ones, the Atlanteans. But he had step foot in Atlantis. He had seen their buildings, and none of them were as grand as Merle described them. None of the old tales said anything about what Merle just described.

He also realized how much he missed Hitomi.

They all did.

"It's getting dark; we should head back shouldn't we?" Merle broke through the silence that had fallen on them, pulling herself from Van's kiss.

They packed up their things, and their walk back to the castle was a quiet one, marked here and there by city guards or villagers nodding and saying hello. Allen parted ways with the group when they reached it, mentioning that his place was at the barracks with his other countrymen, adding that he enjoyed himself.

As Van walked Merle to her room, she suddenly started running towards her door, dragging him along. "Merle! What's going on?" he shouted after her.

"Lord Van! I just remembered something!" she almost knocked down her door to her room, stepping inside, tugging Van's arm so he would enter. _Lord Van is silly about being in my room this late._

"What is it Merle?" he said, slighting winded from the sudden excitement. He watched as she ran here and there amongst her room, throwing drawers and chests open. He quickly realized she was looking for something, but found it odd that it was taking her so long to find it. _She doesn't have a lot of things, so why is it so hard to find what she's after?_

She threw out clothes, most of which was the same design as the dress she always wore, explaining her constant outfit, along with some of her underwear. "Oh please Lord Van," she said, smiling and rolling her eyes at him, "you are the king of a nation, a war hero, and you've already admitted to having sexual dreams about me, so why get embarrassed?" She opened one last drawer before yelling "I FOUND IT!"

She held in her hand a silvery and shining disc, about as big as her open palm, and through the window's moonlight Van saw rainbows play across its surface.

"What is it?"

"Hitomi called it a CD. Do you still have that thing we bought from the old wolfman?" Merle said, holding the disc by the sides, as she had seen Hitomi do a long time ago. "She had a few of them with her, and she even found one in the markets of Asturia."

Van dug into the bags he was holding, taking out the strange object. Their excitement had died down, they had hoped that this object meant that Hitomi was back on Gaea, but after asking the old woflman, and any patrolling guards they had come across, they caught no word of any of the strange pillars of light that signaled travel between the Mystic Moon and Gaea. Before their hopes were raised to high, they simply accepted that the object was here, and not Hitomi.

Handing the silver and black object to Merle, she pressed the engraving that popped open its lid, and placed in the disc. She then fiddled around with it, before turning to Van. "Did it come with some… strings?"

"I think it might have, let me check, the trader did tell me it came with… these?" Van pulled up the strings attached to the ear warmers. _What a strange object. It's a box that only holds these discs and it's also meant to keep your ears warm._

"Yeah, those, give them here." She said, taking them from Van's hand, and finding the little hole and plug that connected the two. When he began to question what she was doing, she simply shut him up with a kiss. "Hold still, let me… dammit! How did Hitomi do this? Oh, this button."

Music began to fill Van's ears.

He saw Merle ask him, or at least he thinks she asked, "Can you hear the music Lord Van?"

He only nodded, his mind still in shock at hearing music come from a box. He had seen music boxes before, but this was different. Magic.

_No, it's not magic. Hitomi's world is just farther ahead of us._

He continued to listen to the music, Merle simply watching him and smiling along. She hummed along, perhaps her ears could hear without the need for the ear warmers? He didn't understand what the woman, he thinks he hears a woman's voice, is saying, and he didn't recognize some of the instruments, but he still knew the piece was wonderful. The rhythms and beats told him it was a happy song.

Soon the song ended and to his surprise another started, similar to the first, then another, and another, a fourth, a fifth. Van listened, with Merle sitting next to him on her bed and holding on to him, humming along with the music. After the twelfth song no more music was played, and Van reluctantly took the device from off of his head, looking at the object in an awed expression.

"This thing is wonderful."

Merle, who had closed her eyes soon after sitting by Van, nodded, "Mmmhmm. Hitomi called it a music player. The CD somehow captures music that people play, so that they can hear it whenever they wish." She wrapped her arms around Van's neck, the music having lifted her spirits, and kissed him lightly. "It sounded beautiful don't you think?"

Van nodded, secretly amazed that he and Merle had kissed so many times in a single day. Her kisses still felt invigorating and amazing, just like their first kiss.

He realized that she looked quite beautiful in the moonlight.

"Oh, I should go now, it's getting late."

"No…" he heard her whisper, "I… there's something I want to ask you."

He sat back down, noticing that she crawled further up her bed, resting her feet on the soft mattress. She looked worried, or scared.

"Lord Van, I… do…" she sighed, unsure how to ask.

"Don't be nervous Merle," he said, holding her hand again. A small smile formed on her lips before disappearing again.

"Ok. Lord Van, we all miss Hitomi right?" He nodded, his mind forming some idea of what this conversation would lead to. "Of course," she continued, "she was our friend. She was-no, _is-_ one of my best friends. But… I know she was more to you than a friend. I know you loved her."

She stopped for a second, before continuing, "And, that music player proves that travel is still possible between Gaea and Fanelia."

He nodded, seeing where she was going with this.

"A while ago you said that you had to be realistic, that you couldn't be in love with Hitomi because she couldn't come back. Well, what if she can? What if she does? Have you really moved on?"

Van sighed, he knew she would have doubts, anyone would. He moved over to her and pulled her into a hug, both of them now lying down on their backs. He turned her to face him, an easy task when she followed his movements and turned of her own will. He playfully traced one of her strips on her cheek before running his hands through her hair.

"I wasn't so clear last time, so this is my fault. I'm not with you simply because I can't be with Hitomi, I'm with you Merle, because I want to be with you. Yes, Hitomi could come back one day, she might not, but that has nothing to do with what I feel for you. Don't second guess yourself, don't think you are some second place prize for me, because I like my confident Merle, and you are my first prize. Never think otherwise."

Merle smiled, blushing at his comment _I like my confident Merle._ She always thought of him as _her_ Lord Van, she had always thought that he belonged to her, and it warmed her heart immensely to hear him say the same of her. She giggled, burying her face in his neck, taking in his scent, her words causing his hairs to stand on end, "You really mean that?"

Her breath felt great against his skin, and Van temporarily felt shivers go along his body. "Yes, I do. You know I do. There is no need to be worried."

Both of them were finding their positions incredibly relaxing, their bodies being eased by the soft mattress below them and each other's embrace. Van's playful combing of her hair soothed and calmed her down, and she began to play with his, both of them simply enjoying each other's company.

"Well, you are important to me Lord Van. I don't want to lose you to anybody." She said, nearly half asleep.

A chuckle reverberated beneath her, Van's words spilling into her ears. "You won't lose me Merle."

She yawned, finding it easy to sleep in his arms.

"I think I…"


	16. Celebratory Night

**Author's Note: **Pretty bad violence follows. I suppose, if you really want to, you could skip this chapter and not really miss anything in the story.

* * *

_**Celebratory Night**_

It was dark, the Mystic Moon and its smaller sister were high in the sky, their light showering everything with a light bluish tint. After Lord Fanel's announcement, and even after many of the stores had been reopened, a few of the townsfolk had decided to hold a celebration. It was small, with only a few people gathered in the re-opened tavern, the Thirsty Dragon, while some came and went throughout the day. The festivities were small and meager, just a few free drinks passed out from the stock, or given at low prices. The people there were drinking, looking forward to a better future or toasting loved ones no longer present, but all were happy that Fanelia now had a safety net, no matter how small it was.

The Thirsty Dragon was known to stay open all night long; however the current situation excluded this possibility, and so had to close its doors early. Two of the last people to leave were Trefor and his daughter, Mari. Trefor's wife and Mari's mother, Lana, had died during the Zaibach attack, and their close family knew the girl was unstable. She had grown into a depression, refused to go out to see her friends, and, one night even attempted suicide.

Luckily her father, her family and friends had slowly coaxed her out of her slump, and in the past few weeks she had shown much improvement, even started working with her friends as a nurse in the hospitals. Part of their small celebration involved Mari getting her first, as far as her father knew, taste of ale, and her friends giving her what meager presents they could. A patch of cloth to repair her torn dress, a small drinking pouch, and a new handkerchief to hold back her hair as she worked with patients, and had even received an entire loaf of bread.

The festivities caused them to almost stumble out of the tavern, Mari due to drunkenness and her father because he had to support her and her gifts.

"I told you this would happen, but did you listen? No. Think you are all grown up now."

Mari, through her disorientation, still laughed and playfully punched her father. "I am a big girl now! I work just like everyone else, so I can drink like everyone else!" she pouted, slightly wincing at her own loud voice.

"Big girl who still whines like a little girl."

They stopped in front of their house, one of the few that had survived completely unharmed through the attack, Trefor fumbling in his pocket for his keys before opening the door and walking into his home. It was empty and bare, thought it survived the fires it hadn't been kept safe from looters, and now only a simple couch, table and cabinet adorned the living room. Slipping his daughter onto the couch, and covering her with a simple shawl, he headed into the kitchen to place the remaining items he carried.

His kitchen, like his living room, was also bare. A simple stove, a pantry and a very small table were placed up against the outer wall of his small home, the kitchen quite cramped and claustrophobic. "Homey" he would describe it as. A frail looking screen door led out to his small backyard which, along with all the other buildings adjacent to his, was walled in by the Fanelian city walls themselves. He'd always meant to build a sturdier door to replace the current one, but never felt the need. He was on good terms with all his neighbors, and with the castle wall being patrolled by city guards, there was never any chance of anyone breaking into his home from the backdoor.

He suddenly realized that he had left the front door opened. And quickly hurried back into the living room, realizing a small moth had flown in through the open door, and closed it shut.

"Stupid bug."

He tried scaring it away, hoping to guide it through the small window near his door, and when that failed, attempted to swat it with a rolled up piece of paper, his marching orders for tomorrow's patrol.

"What are you doing?"

He didn't even turn at his daughter's voice, too intent as he was on smashing the bug before him.

"This moth got in here when I left the door open. And you know I can't sleep when I know there is a moth in the house."

"Yeah, you can't sleep." She said, her voice sounding slightly slurred or tipsy. Trefor chuckled again, bringing his swatter down on a table causing a clattering of dishes; his daughter would be feeling the effects of those drinks tomorrow.

"Dad?"

"Yes dear?"

"Could you get me some of that bread? I'm hungry."

He brought down his swatter again, knocking over a small and old picture from the wall.

"Did you get it?"

Another smash was heard, the girl's father nearly tripping over his work boots as he tried to catch the elusive moth.

"…"

The man stood deathly still, his paper held tightly in his hand and raised high. He was eyeing his opponent.

Another smash.

"Get it this time?"

"Yeah, I can sleep well tonight. No damn moths."

"That's great, now can you get me that bread?"

"Sure honey." He said, wiping the small crushed body off of his paper with a small napkin and throwing it in the trash. He walked past his daughter, giving her a smile, and into the kitchen.

And straight into a trap.

Trefor's eyes shot open in pain, his hands immediately grabbing the foreign hand that was shoving a long serrated blade deep into his gut. The man before him, the thief that had chosen to rob his home this night, clamped his hand over Trefor's mouth, leaning in and quietly shushing him. Tears started forming in Trefor's eyes; the pain had quickly become unbearable. He noticed the man had been forcing the blade deeper into his side, and when it reached the deepest it could, he had begun twisting it scraping against two of his ribs.

"All I wanted is your food." The man whispered nervousness evident in his voice and eyes.

"Hey dad, wha-"

Mira walked into the kitchen and caught sight of the man who loomed over both of them with his hand still on the knife that was deeply entrenched in her father's side and reached for a cutting knife and lunged at him, only to be met with rough hands clamping down around her wrists faster than she could react, holding her down before being knocked to the ground, all three people rolling on the floor in struggle, fists landing blows on faces and stomachs, nails being dragged along the man's face leaving bloody trails and yells of pain and disorientation as kitchen ware clattered down around them, smashing against the ground and showering everyone in shards of glass and knives as the bag holding the stolen food burst open from a missed slash of a knife.

Trefor, like his daughter and the man, didn't really know what was happening during the fight, the close cramped quarters of the kitchen meant that at every moment their vision was filled with blurred fists, legs and the glint of knives, and the disorientation was only further enhanced by the blows his head was receiving from the man as he slammed his fists into the sides of his head or kicked him in the gut with his heavy boots. He screamed as the knife was wrenched from his side in one strong pull, followed immediately by his body feeling much, much colder. The man's attention was off of him now, and that only meant one thing.

A loud shrieking scream was heard and was suddenly silenced, chilling Trefor to the bone.

An adrenaline surge passed through his body as he reached for a knife that had fallen nearby, noticing that he was now missing a finger, grabbed it as he jumped on the man, stabbing repeatedly at his back, his sides, his arms. He assault was stopped when the man smashed a frying pan into his face and made off, a trail of blood marking his passage through his home.

Trefor gasped as he saw his daughter.

She was clutching at her neck, drenched in blood and sweat, tears streaming from her eyes.

"No! Mari!"

He hurried over to her, grabbing a nearby cloth and pressing it down on her neck, hoping to keep the wound closed. His daughter was gurgling, every time she tried to speak or yell or cry blood would erupt from her mouth. The pain caused by the knife that has passed through her neck, the blood loss, the inability to breathe, the prospect of dying, it was all causing her to panic. Her body was uncontrollable as her death throes began, she began writhing every which way, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

Fear coursed through Trefor's veins, the death throes of his daughter before him scaring all his wits from him.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeelp!" he yelled, coarsely at first, his lungs failing him, "heeeeeeeeeeelp!" he yelled again, this time with more strength.

He heard the screaming of his friends, the yelling of guards as they finally arrived on the scene, awoken in the middle of the night by the sounds of their struggle. He had enough strength to beg for help before collapsing in a puddle of blood, knives, broken dishes and cups and bread.


	17. Cornered

**Author's Note: **I did some thinking, and came to the conclusion that a few of the chapters could use some merging. This chapter is also part of another one, and will be merged together with that one at a later date.

* * *

_**Cornered**_

Whatever embarrassment Van had felt when several of Fanelia's high ranking official knocked on Merle's room, only to find him answering the door was gone, replaced with confusion. He looked back at Merle, noting that she was still asleep before walking out into the hallway.

"What's going on Henry?" Van asked the tall man before him, noting that he looked quite tired. The man leaned in, his voice low and gravely, a side effect of the old scar that dominated his neck, an injury from long ago. "Lord Fanel, there has been a murder."

"What?" Van immediately asked, struggling to keep his voice down. "Where? When?"

The guard captain laid a gauntleted hand on his king's shoulder, pointing down the hall, motioning for them to head to his office.

"It was tonight, a few minutes ago."

"Great, then we can still catch him."

They both greeted the two guards who were flanking the doors into the king's chambers. Already from here Van could hear some discussion coming from within, and guessed that most of the heads of Fanelia's security was presently inside. Opening the doors, he realized he was quite right, the room was filled with several people, Fanelian and the Asturian guards, all standing over the large table which presently had a large and detailed map of the city of Fanelia covering most of it. They all nodded at his entrance, keenly aware that he was not in a good mood, a feeling they could share.

It was quiet as he took his place at the head of the table, surrounded by both Fanelia and Asturian guards. Allen arrived and stood with his group of men, while Henry walked over to his home guard. Van nodded at each of them, noting that some looked as if they hadn't slept at all last night, and began.

"So what do we know?"

"Quite a bit, actually," one of the men started talking, moving closer to the table. He looked over at the map while scratching his beard, and after a second he laid a finger on a spot near the city walls. "Here, 3rd Firstwalk. Home of Trefor and Lana Dorn. Sometime in the night neighbors say they started hearing odd sounds coming from their home, and minutes later Mr. Dorn was calling for help."

"What happened?" Van asks, looking at that point on the map that he knew symbolized two dead people.

"We don't know for sure. We can guess that there was a fight between him, his daughter and whoever did this…" the man sighed, dreading his following words, "The daughter, Mari, was killed during the fight. Neighbors rushed in when they realized something was wrong and tried to help but Mr. Dorn died shortly after."

"Alright," Van's voice was low, "now, who did this? And why hasn't he been caught?"

Henry spoke up again, "Well, the guards who arrived found a grappling hook in the victim's backyard. The murdered hoped to escape by climbing over the wall, but probably due to injuries, couldn't or didn't."

"Not all bad news though," a third man spoke up, his armor more intricate and ornate. "He hasn't left through the city main gates, or through any of the holes in the city walls. He also hasn't tried getting out of Fanelia through our airship docks."

"So then, he's still in the city?" Van asked.

Allen stepped in this time, "Yes, your guards and my own are now combing the city, all the exists are being guarded and on the lookout for an injured man, we think he was injured, so it's only a matter of time now."

Van nodded, his eyes still planted on 3rd Firstwalk. When he spoke his eyes still never left that small mark on the map.

"Good, alert everyone. Make sure the people are aware of this danger, to stay away from this man and report anything unusual to the nearest guard. Go now and find this man before he does this again."

The entire group nodded and promptly walked out of the chambers, already discussing and relaying orders to their messengers to be carried throughout the city, leaving Van and Allen alone. The young man slumped into his chair, a long sigh escaping his lips.

"They'll catch him Van, don't worry." Allen said, taking a seat beside his friend, trying to calm him down. The blonde haired knight knew his friend was nervous, worried and angry. "You heard what they said, it's simply a matter of time."

"Yes," Van began, his voice sounding immensely tired, "but that doesn't make waiting any easier. It also doesn't bring back Trefor and Mari."

Allen nodded, also laying eyes on their home marked on the map before him, the only markings of murder Fanelia had seen in a year and a half now. A strange feeling overcame him, anger. _What sick man would kill a family in these times? _He asked himself. _At least the dog was injured, _he added, attempting to find some silver lining in this affair and failing in doing so.

A thought began to form in his head, following his previous train of thought. "Say, Van? This… man," Allen nearly spat out the words, feeling a murderer didn't deserve such recognition, "he's injured right? Or at least we think so."

Van nodded, not sure of the direction Allen was headed in.

"Well, it seems to me that, due to the state Fanelia is currently in, it won't be as easy to find him as we think. How many people are injured in the construction crews? How many are ill or malnourished? He could, if he hides it well enough, pass off as just any other Fanelia at the moment."

Van sunk into his chair again, reeling from Allen's insight. "He could hide from us in plain sight! Allen, he could be at a hospital _right now_. We have to go warn them!" He suddenly sprung up, his hand on his sword which clanked at his side.

"No Van, you stay here."

"What?" Van gave him the most confused look he had seen in recent times. "Allen, there is a murderer in my city, I have to go find him."

"No Van, you have to stay here, at the head of your city in case anything else happens. We could be wrong, he might not be in a hospital, he could be anywhere. What happens if the guards come back and you are not here? Your duty is to stay here."

"But-"

"You stay Van. I'll go and check out the hospital."

The young king nodded, realizing his friend was correct. "Go then." Was all he said, before returning to his seat, hearing Allen's hurried steps as he nearly bolted out of the room.

Van sat down, he felt terrible. Two people were dead, and a nagging voice at the back of his mind told him that their deaths were on his hand. He buried his face in his hands, aware that he was left alone in the king's chambers with no nothing but his own disappointment in himself.


	18. Judge, Jury and Executioner

_**Judge, Jury and Executioner**_

Merle's peaceful sleep was disturbed by a chorus of yells coming from outside her window. She groggily woke up and realized Van wasn't in the room with her, odd considering they had fallen asleep together. She pushed the small pang of hurt aside, focusing her attention on the yelling and screaming that had roused her from sleep.

"What is going on?" she wondered to herself as she made her way to the window. Rubbing her eyes she looked upon a large crowd, barely being held back by several guards, yelling and throwing things at a group of people further into the courtyard. Adding to her confusion was the fact that they seemed to be yelling at a group of guards and other people, one of which happened to be Allen.

"What'd he do to get people throwing things at him?"

Before she was able to look any further, a knock came at her door, followed by the voice of one of the castle's maids.

"Lady Merle, are you awake?"

"Yes, Sofia is that you? You can come in you know."

Her room door opened to reveal Sofia, one of the maids that Merle had become friends with in the castle. She walked into the room and made her way over to Merle, who simply turned and asked "Why is everyone calling me Lady Merle? I don't have a title you know."

"Well yes but…" she winced when a thrown piece of fruit collided with one of the men in the courtyard, "some of us think that you should get titled for your acts during the war, you supported Lord Fanel in a very crucial and important way. That deserves recognition you know."

"Oh," the cat girl replied, somewhat disappointed by the answer. "What's the deal with those guys down there?"

"Oh right!" Sofia gasped, remembering why she was here in the first place "Lord Fanel asked me to go fetch you, he's in his office. Something big is going down; I hear it has to do with the murder."

"What?" Merle asked, clearly very shocked and disturbed by this news, "When di-what happened?"

Sofia simply shrugged and continued looking out the window. "You should go find Lord Fanel," she began after a while, moving in step with Merle towards the room's exit, "He will tell you more."

Merle nodded before locking her bedroom door behind her, absentmindedly saying goodbye to Sofia, and began walking towards Van's office. She noticed several people, mainly guards, rushing about the castle and headed in the direction of the courtyards, along with several older men and women, the judges of Fanelia. They were too engrossed in their own activities, which Merle was still uncertain about, to talk to anyone else, hurriedly talking back and forth to each other, though the few that did see her greeted her with her title.

"Hey wait! What's going on?" she cried after a group that rounded a corner, gone from earshot. Fuming Merle mumbled to herself, "Jeez, you'd think they'd tell their king's girlfriend just what is happening!"

"Merle."

"Wha-" Merle spun around on her heel, her words dying in her mouth as she came face to face with her boyfriend himself, Van. "Oh Lord Van!" she ran up to him, giving him a hug and beaming smiles up at him. Normally he would return her happy attitude with a smile of his own, or more recently a kiss, but now he simply pulled her into his office and walked to his desk. When he slumped down in his chair she immediately walked over to him and sat herself down on his lap. When she talked her voice was muffled, she had nuzzled closely to his chest, "Lord Van, what's wrong?"

It was a while before he answered, and when he tried to the sounds and voices of a few people walking past his office door stopped him. When they were sure no one would interrupt them he began, "Merle, there's a man hunt going on for a murderer."

She simply nodded against his chest, already aware of the murder.

"Is that what's bothering you?" She asked.

"No, well, I mean yes." Van sighed, clearly upset, and when he seemed to be unable to speak, Merle simply nudged him forward, uttering a soft 'go on'.

"What I mean is- well, of _course_ I'm upset that someone was murdered. Even if I am their king, even if I don't know each and every one of them by name, these people are my family. I go out there Merle, I work for them, I talk to them, and I'm supposed to protect them. Maybe not me personally, but my actions. I'm supposed to set up enough guards to keep people safe, to make sure the walls are high enough that no one can climb over them, to make sure that there should be no reason why anyone should go out and kill people!" His voice had been increasing steadily throughout his rant but not it dropped down low. "And I failed to do that."

Merle wanted to cut in, to say that he couldn't make Fanelia perfect, no person would make anything perfect, that he was beating himself up and thinking he failed something that couldn't be done, but he continued to talk before she could.

"I failed to keep Trefor and Mari Dorn safe. I failed to put enough guards in the city, I failed to make some sort of measure to get medicine to people in emergency situations, I failed to repair the city walls by putting in measures that prevent people from climbing them." Again he sighed, Merle could it was meant to calm down his voice; she had started noting a hint of sadness or disappointment in it, as if it would break at any moment. _But Lord Van never cried did he?_

"And I can't even… I," Van seemed at a loss for words, and again Merle had to help him along, this time by slipping one of his hands into hers and giving him a gentle squeeze. "And when it counts I'm in here, I'm stuck in my office, unable to go out and find the man responsible for two murders? I'm just supposed to sit here and wait for more news. Damn it he could hurt more people while they're looking! He could escape! If more people are looking for him then his chances go down, but I'm supposed to just sit here? Allen and the other Asturian guards, people who aren't even part of this community, are out there looking for him, but I'm just supposed to _sit here?" _Merle winced slightly at his last comment, though she was sure he didn't mean anything against the Asturian friends. "I am Merle. Because that's exactly what I had to do. I sat here, alone in this office, while everyone else went out to catch a murderer in my own country, to catch a man that slipped through the cracks that I failed to fix."

"The only thing we can salvage from this entire situation is justice. He's going to be executed."

Merle was immediately alarmed, and pulled her head up to look at him. "What? Kill him? But Lord Van don't- aren't we supposed to jail him? I hate murderers just as much as anyone, but are we going to execute him?"

Van slowly nodded, "Merle," he said softly, in a slow patient voice, "the murderer hid inside the hospital, and when Allen and a few guards moved into catch him the small fight that occurred ended up smashing a medicine cabinet. We also don't have the space available to hold a criminal, nor the people to guard him. What if he escapes? He could just leave, but what if he does it again? And then after that?" Van nodded again, "Besides, he killed two people during an emergency situation, the same as when we experience an earthquake or flooding or mudslides, killing people during these times requires harsher punishment. And even if there wasn't… there's already a mob of people demanding he be executed."

Merle simply hugged him closer, amazed and depressed that Van was going through such emotions in such a short time. She knew it had to be done; she was just surprised it was going to be done. She knew Van had always been more sensitive about killing, even during the war, when it literally was "us or them" it had taken a near death experience after a bout of depression to finally cement the fact that Van _had _to kill.

"Lord Van, I..."

At that moment the doors flung open, startling both of them. Four men walked in, Fanelia's highest judge, Henry the Guard Captain, Allen and a scribe. They walked right up to the pair, grim looks on their faces. "Lord Fanel."

Van motioned Merle to move, and he stood up once possible. Merle, who moved farther away from the group, retreating from a meeting she had no official say in, noted sadly that he had put on a mask of indifference, of courage. When he spoke, she knew he was hiding the vulnerability and confusion she had just heard.

"I assume this is the official trial for the murderer?"

Judge Alta nodded and the scribe, a young man from town who was apprenticing himself as a judge, began reading from one of the scrolls he had bundled under his arm, while writing down his exact words into another scroll.

"Yellow, 29th Moon. Presiding judge Rien Alta. Overseeing guard Henry Garrett. Witness is Allen Schezar. By special circumstances Lord Van de Fanel is overseeing this trial, as it is being conducted during an emergency situation and is directly affected by the measures Fanelia must take to protect herself and her people during such times."

The scribe waited until he finished transcribing his exact words into the second scroll, which was beginning to fill up with his writing. The other men waited patiently for him to finish, and continued when he motioned them to. Henry, being the guard captain and hence the holder of the accused, spoke first.

"Your honor the accused, whose identity cannot be discerned due to Fanelia's current lack of records, is being charged with the murder of Trefor and Mari Dorn, somewhere on the beginning of this day. The accused fled from the scene, attempted to hide inside the temporary hospital where he was apprehended by the Knight of Caeli Allen Schezar."

"The court calls upon the Knight of Caeli Allen Schezar. Do you confirm that you apprehended the subject? How?"

"I do, he was caught in the temporary hospitals of Fanelia, as Guard Captain Garrett said. The subject was apprehended after a brief altercation which unfortunately destroyed some stores of medicine." Though he hadn't even been called into any court room proceedings in Fanelia before Allen seemed to be as calm and confident as ever. The scribe handed him the scroll he had been writing on, signaling Allen to sign to confirm his statement.

"Scribe, let the record show that the accused is directly responsible for destruction of much needed medicine during an emergency situation." Judge Alta quickly pointed out, partly due to the official procedures of the court and partly to remind his apprentice of the flow of things. He then turned again to Henry, and asked "What evidence do you have to accuse the unidentified man of murder?" A look of disgust crossed his face. Everyone knew this man had done it; there was simply no other way. Everyone would be content with carrying out what they were about to do with no evidence at all, but he was legally bound to ask this.

"The accused, when confronted by Sir Schezar and other guards, drew a weapon and refused to come quietly. This is, in my opinion as acting Captain of the Guard, enough evidence to prove his guilt." Again the scribe moved to have Henry sign the scroll.

"Very well. As Judge of this trial, and taking into consideration the current state of Fanelia, I sentence this man to execution by hanging at the soonest possible time. Are there any objections? Then this court is adjourned."

The judge and captain signed the scroll before handing the scroll to Van, who was the only person able fully authorize the execution. He signed the paper as quickly as he could, though everyone in the room noted the slight quivering of his hand. As soon as he was done he handed back the scroll to the scribe, and looked at the four men before him. "Very well, it's done. When is the execution going to take place?"

"Right now, the gallows are already set up."

Henry's answer startled Van in the extreme. "How? The order hasn't even come down yet."

Everyone in the room turned to look at the man, who didn't flinch under the added scrutiny. "Honestly, everyone in the city already knew how this trial would turn out. The guards started setting up the gallows as soon as we arrived with the accused. Most of the city is already awake and aware of this and is already assembled outside. And if you will excuse us, we have a murderer to hang." He saluted, and simply walked out of the room, the rest following closely behind.

Merle immediately walked over to Van and took his hand. "Lord Van, are you alright?"

"Mmh?" he seemed far away, "yes. Yes I am. Let's go."

The entire group, save the scribe who ran off to gather signatures from the hospital and any other witnesses, walked into the courtyard which was temporarily crowded by several guards, a few other people, the accused, and of course, the gallows.

The gallows were of normal construction. A wooden stand, easily and swiftly assembled, was a simple mechanism. An overhead beam, built sturdily to support the weight of one person, or gods forbid up to 4, from which hung a tough and well prepared noose. A nearby lever activated a mechanism whose only job was to pull back the stops which held up the wooden boards above them, which acted as the floor for the stand. When the convicted would be secured to their places, the ropes placed about their neck, the floor suddenly giving way beneath them would cause them to fall causing the rope to tighten around their necks, killing them almost immediately.

As the guards led the man up the steps of the gallows, they checked over and over that the ropes around his arms and the rope that would hang him were tight and secure. While this occurred, the crowd eyed the murderer and cursed him, either silently or loudly, while others, friends of Trefor and Mari, wept. Judge Alta stepped up to a small stand that had been set off to the side and began to speak to the people.

Van wasn't really aware of that, he wasn't listening to whatever was being said. He was deep inside his mind again, with another question nagging at him. He could very well deal with killing beasts, they were simply animals after all, he was fine with killing soldiers, because it was either them or him, but could he kill one of his own people?

"Lord Van?" Merle's small voice reached his ears, bringing him back to reality. He turned to look at her, and noticed that the eyes of everyone present were on him. Judge Alta motioned him again.

"Lord Fanel, is there anything you wish to say before we exact justice on this man?"

He said nothing, and nodded so.

"Lord Fanel doesn't wish to waste any words on this _man." _Judge Alta announced to the people, spitting out the last word, referring to the murderer, almost as if the words hurt him as they passed through his lips. "Now, if there is nothing else, executioner."

"Wait."

Again all the eyes turned to the young king before them. Even Merle turned up to Van, startled, unaware of his mind. Without uttering another word, he walked past the guards at the base of the steps, and straight up to the criminal. He whispered, so that no one but he and the criminal could hear, he _had_ to know. "Why did you do it?"

"…"

The man didn't respond. He either didn't have an answer, a real one, or he didn't know anymore, or it was an accident, or he knew no answer would save him now. _I guess it really doesn't matter now, all that is left is for me to do my job._

Again without a word, Van moved over to the executioner, moved him aside, grabbed hold of the lever and turned around, keeping his eyes on the murderer all the time. Then, with a quick pull, he threw the lever. The stops came out from under the boards beneath the man, causing him to fall, followed by the quick sound of his neck breaking.


	19. Being Nervous, and a Young Lady

**Author's Note: **The previous two chapters have been merged into one, since they were both taking place during the same time, and were quite short on their own. I hate short chapters. Name was merged too.

* * *

**_Being Nervous, and a Young Lady_**

_Merle's birthday is coming up._

Van was once again at his desk filling out papers when he noticed his mind had begun to wander. It wasn't that he didn't love his job, he did, but sometimes he had to admit that it was very slow, and, quite honestly, was sometimes incredibly boring. Just _why_ did the treasury need his constant approval for loans? He had, without fail, approved every single loan request in the past month; did they think he would change his mind on this one? Or the next one?

"I _really _need to figure something out with Vere and the others down in the treasury." He mumbled to himself.

This was usually the moment where Merle would ask him something along the likes of "Mmmh? Did you say something Lord Van?" "What do you mean Lord Van?" or "Finally snapped eh Lord Van?" But as luck would have it she was not in Van's office helping him with his paperwork as she usually would, explaining the greater amount of paperwork Van was trudging through.

_Still, it's just as well_ he thought to himself. Pushing off of his chair he stood up and walked over to the large window behind his desk, smiling as he felt the warm light wash over his body. He walks closer to the window, pressing his hand up against it and pushing it open. Satisfied that a breeze is finally coming into his office he sits back into his chair, admiring the rays of light that come in and play against the shadows caused by the items on his desk. He sinks back into his chair, slumping his shoulders and relaxing his posture, and beings to think back on the past month in Fanelia, namely the murder.

Van still didn't like the entire affair; it didn't sit right with him at all, though he had still done what was required of him by the law and his station. Unsurprisingly it was Merle who was there for him and listened to his thoughts about the entire set of events, and told him that sometimes he simply can't save everyone.

"_Sometimes, Lord Van, people will get hit with the short end of the stick, sometimes they will get robbed from, hurt and yes, even killed. You can't stop that; you can't make everything perfect or be there for everyone. Someone will fall through the cracks or break the law. All you can really do is try to make the most people happy, make the cracks as small as you can and make sure you are ready to enforce the law when you can. And sometimes that law has to be mean and swift. You know I'll be there every step of the way with you."_

He smiled, Merle's words were always on his mind now, as was she, and he didn't mind that at all. Even when he thought he needed focus, during training or during work or during any of his other tasks, when he thought he should push her out of his mind he only found that her absence caused him grief. And he knew quite well why this was.

He moved some of the books and scrolls scattered around his desk, finding a small calendar that had been placed there, he looked further up along the current month to the 30th moon only to find a small note reminding him of Merle's birthday. Not that he needed it of course, and not that she needed to write that note in the first place to remind him, since he had remembered her birthday every single year since they had met.

But this birthday was important. On the 30th moon of Orange, Merle would turn 16; she would have her coming of age celebration. He wasn't really sure what the celebration entailed, he'd never seen acats 16th birthday or read about them, so he wasn't sure what he had to expect, or even if he was allowed to attend. All he really knew is that it marked, for her people at least, the transition from childhood to adulthood, giving her all the responsibilities and privileges of a woman.

And Van found this both nervous and exciting.

He knew why he was excited but not why he was nervous.

The truth was that Van realized that he loved Merle.

This was not new, he already knew, as did she, that he loved her as his best friend, as his most trusted companion. But, over the past few months, since their relationship had bloomed and especially after her words to him after the execution, he had begun to love Merle, the woman.

_Strong, brave, just and beautiful. It just feels so right to love her._

And it did! Ever since that little seed of fondness had developed, bloomed in an instant, inside of him, ever since he was aware of what he was feeling his spirits would soar when he was with her, his ears would hear beautiful music when she spoke to him, and his lips would burn with a passion when he kissed her.

"Hahahahahaha!"

Tears had formed in Van's eyes, and he put one hand over his face as he tried to control his laughter. He had just realized just how giddy he felt when he was with her. It amused him to no end just how happy he was, happy enough to start laughing in an empty room, with her. He had never thought love could do such a thing, he had never felt it before, even for Hitomi, that his life just seemed to be better with Merle around. He had never really thought about love, not in any serious manner, before he loved Hitomi, and even then there was no relationship to build upon, but even when he did, he never saw himself be so… _different._ He had never imagined himself able to be swayed so complete by the mere thought of a woman, and yet here he was, in love. He was better.

After a while he calmed down, and decided to think more seriously on the matter. He decided to stretch his legs and moved over again to the window. He peered out, watching the Fanelian landscape stretched out beneath him, and smiled.

"Merle, I love you."

He was distracted by his thoughts by a knock to his office door, followed by Henry walking into the room, clad as always, in his armor. "Lord Fanel," he said, saluting instead of bowing. "You ordered me to alert you as soon as the trainee group was ready for excercise."

Van nodded and began exiting the room, picking up his sword as he did. "That I did Henry, but I didn't order you to do anything, I asked you to. Really, stop saluting me, no one is watching." Henry's salute didn't falter, nor did he relax his standing position.

"_I_ am watching Lord Fanel. Guards must have discipline, even when they aren't under inspection."

Van laughed, and patted Herny on his armored shoulder, ordering him to relax. "Well, let's go inspect these trainees. Let's also hope we don't scare them away with discipline and responsibility, we need as many people back in uniform as we can. We can't keep relying on Asturia for help." The large man nodded, and they began walking towards the training grounds, discussing which routines and excercises they'd run through the class today.

As they did so there was another discussion going on in a small house in Fanelia. It was in the Cat District, which had been affectionaly named so because of the large population of cat people, along with all other manner of beastmen. One particular house, which was adorned with the symbols of an old clan, currently housed the king's sweetheart.

"So, that's all?" Merle asked, somewhat confused as to why she had to wait almost the entire day just to hear so little. This was Cassandra's home, her older friend just off to her left. Cassandra asked her if she knew about her coming of age ceremony, and when Merle admitted she didn't, dragged her friend here to her home. Her mother, Juna, had lived in a pure cat society and as such was one of the only people in Fanelia that knew all their customs, and as such, her people that had grown up in human society would go to her to remember their heritage.

Juna, a tall elegant catwoman with excellent poise nodded the beads that had been braided into her hair dangling slightly as she did so. "Yes," she said, in a motherly and elegant voice, "don't worry child, I'll do the ceremony, a simple speech really, all you must worry about is bringing your friends-"

"That's me and the others." Cassandra interrupted.

"-and your family, and someone important to you."

"Oh…" Merle suddenly looked unsure of the entire thing.

"Is something the matter?" Juna asked, while Cassandra simply looked at her friend.

"Well, it's just that I don't have any family."

"My, forgive me child, I had no idea, I had thought your family resided in the castle with you, though I had never seen cats claim you as their own… How were you raised?"

"Well," Merle began, trying to access a memory that occurred a long time ago. "have you heard of the town Irini?" She asked at last.

"Oh, I see. You come from Irini?" Juna asked, shuddering at the thought of that horrible massacre. "How did you survive?" As she asked.

Again Merle furrowed her brows in concentration. "Lord Fanel, the late, was dealing with the slaver bastards at the time," Merle spit out the words, slavers and their trade was one of the only things she actually hated in the world, "and found out that Irini was going to be hit. He took soldiers and hurried to the town, but arrived after the attack. The survivors were rescued and taken to Fanelia… I don't know why, but Lady Fanel took me in. She raised me after that."

"My," Juna said, "what a life. You've been through a lot haven't you? And now the Lord and the Lady are gone from us." Juna frowned, remembering how the two rulers of Fanelia opened up the country to all men and women, no matter what type they were. "Such a shame, the giving away always brought a tear to my eye."

"What's that?" Merle asked, having not heard of this particular part of the ceremony.

"Well," Juna began, "the ceremony celebrates a young girl turning into a young woman, and part of that is acknowledging that a young woman can, and perhaps already has, a man in his life, and that she is free to start a life with that man." She looked Merle, who was slightly blushing, and smiled. "The entire city, and the towns beyond, now know of you and Lord Fanel, so your parents, or his, if they were still with us, would have "given you away" to that man."

Cassandra nodded, "That's right. She gave me away to Roe when I was dating him." She added, dreamily remembering her own 16th birthday.

"But you broke up with him." Merle retorted, remembering her friend crying for days after she had broken with the young man.

"Of course," Juna cut in before her daughter could remember that moment and begin crying again, "giving away the daughter to her sweetheart doesn't mean they will be together, just that she is free to pursue that path either to success or failure." Juna turned towards her window, noticing that the sun had already set, and gasped. "Oh my, it seems the day is over, I'm sorry to have kept you here so long Merle, but I was talking with some of the members of my old clan. I lost track with them, I hope you understand, I didn't keep you from anything did I?"

Merle wanted to say 'You kept me from Lord Van for an entire day!' but thought better of it, as it would sound like whining, and Merle felt that whining before Juna would simply make her look that much more like a child. "No ma'am," she finally settled on saying, "thank you. Is there anything I need to do to prepare?"

"No, just come tell me where you want the birthday to be held, and I shall be there and say all the words for you. You just worry about bringing your friends and Lord Fanel."

Merle stood up, and together with Cassandra walked out to her front porch, waving at a couple of children who were still outside playing under the watchful gaze of their parents. "It'll be fun Merle, and like my mom said, you don't do anything. It isn't even hard or anything, she just says some words, and that's it. After that it's just a normal party, you get to eat, drink, dance and kiss the king all you want!"

Merle giggled, "I _do_ like kissing Lord Van."

"Great, it'll be fun, don't worry. Love to hang out, but ma needs me to clean up the place, she's got her friends come back tomorrow." She looked back over her shoulder, and leaned in, motioning Merle to do the same. "I think she likes one of them, heard they were old friends back in her clan, kept shooting glances at each other all day." Merle and Cassandra shared a laugh, before she began talking again. "Right, so see you some other time Merle." With that the two friends hugged, and the older of the two walked back into her home, waving goodbye as she did so.

Merle began slowly walking back to the castle, all the while thinking about the giving away ceremony. All the people she had as parents in her life were gone, resting in the afterlife, and for some reason, which she knew was silly, she thought she could never really become a woman if there was no one at the ceremony there to give her off to Lord Van. She shook her head, and ignored that silly voice in her head, suddenly excited about seeing her Lord Van after an entire day away from him.

She caught him as he led a training exercise for the guard trainees, and since he was training them to stay awake even in cold nights, was unable to leave the group. She nodded, understanding how much, and why, he had pushed to begin training new guards and putting them in patrols as soon as possible. She tiptoed up and kissed him, with him returning the gesture, even as the men in the training grounds started cheering them on. "Going to be a long night Lord Van?" she whispered, ignoring the shouts nearby.

She didn't get the response she was hoping for, since Van simply kissed her again. "Oh," she smiled, "what was that for? I don't mind, but that is more kisses than you usually give."

"What? I can't kiss the lady I am courting?"

"Oh you may Lord Van," Merle said, suddenly feigning a noble's accent and holding her head high, "You may, and since it pleases this lady, I wish you do so again." She tiptoed up again, ready for his kiss this time and returned it as well as she could, noticing that Van was putting a little more vigor into the kiss. When they parted, Van held her close.

"Hey, you look tired. Sitting around all day just isn't you is it? Go get some sleep, I've still got alot of work to do, it will be a long night."

"Alright," the girl said, "I'll take a short nap, and come back here in a bit to keep you company." And with that, the hugged Van tightly and received another kiss before she headed off towards the castle. Behind her, she heard Henry berating the guards for standing around for so long, and for not giving their king and his lady the simple decency of averting their eyes.

"And for that you will all run 5 laps around the entire castle! Get to it, we don't have all night!"

Merle laughed, stopping near one of the entrances to the castle, and turned around to look at the entire group of men suddenly begin off towards their run, the giant Henry behind them and on their heels telling them to shape up and run faster. She caught sight of Van again and blew him a kiss before heading off to sleep.


	20. And Now a Lady

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the delay, but both _Halo: Reach_ and the _Vindictus _beta, as well as school, have been keeping me busy. That and a new computer. All these things distracted me and sapped me of my will to write mushy romance. Killing aliens that go squawk does that to you.

* * *

_**And Now a Lady**_

Merle's birthday party had been going on for about three hours now, well into the night. Merle had only two memories of birthdays with her real parents, and both of them had occurred at night, so guessing she was born sometime around midnight, had decided to hold the party at that time. Her friends and their families were present, along with the friends Van had invited, and their families and friends. The guests were enjoying themselves, particularly Van's invited, since they were mostly trainees from the guards, and had been given a day and night of relaxation before their training started up again. Some of the young men, still in their fatigues, were dancing with the girls, swaying around, drawing cheers and laughter from some of the older couples who danced with slower movements.

Van and Merle were dancing off to one of the sides, the only time they have had alone together almost all night. It was to be expected really, the entire reason for the party was for Merle, so people came by and gave her gifts and wished her well, while Van attracted attention because he was the king and ruler of everyone present.

"My eyes are up here Lord Van." Merle chided playfully, drawing a flustered look from the wild haired king.

"I wasn't looking at you inappropriately Merle. I was just noticing how… different you look."

"Oh?" Merle questioned, drawing away from him and twirling around. Her usual dress was absent; instead she wore one of the traditional dresses of her people, one specifically used in the 16th birthdays. This dress was longer than her normal one, ending down below her knees, her tail sticking out from under the skirt. Beyond that, she wore two shawls, one wrapping around her waist with its end hanging down along her skirt, and another stretched out, covering her hair and bare shoulders. Both of these were the yellow color Merle favored in her clothing, with black flower patterns and white lace decorating them. Beyond the dress and shawls themselves, Merle was decorated in silver bands and circlets, one on each wrist, by her feet and on her upper arms, little small beads hanging off of them. "You like how I look? You know, you look handsome dressed up too. You should consider doing it a bit more."

Van wore black pants, dress shoes and had left his work gloves off. Of course, he still wore his red shirt, but this was covered in a long black coat, which had gold patterns around the cuff and collar. Of course, it was supposed to be worn with a dress shirt and vest, but Merle knew that even getting him to wear semiformal clothing was a stretch. He had even agreed to _attempt_ to comb his hair.

"Almost halfway to looking like an actual king instead of some kid from the streets!" She added, playfully straightening out his coat and trying to slick back his hair and failing.

"Ah, thanks Merle, you look great too." Van said, smiling. He brought her back into her arms and moved to kiss her when she put a manicured finger to his lips.

"No can do Lord Van, I can't kiss anyone today, those are the rules." She grinned at him, "So you'll have to suffer this whole night until I turn into a lady."

Van gasped, clutching at his heart in mock hurt, "What? My heart can't take that punishment, say it isn't so!"

Merle smiled, and tiptoed up to him, raising his lips to his. At the last second she pulled away, "Nope sorry, those are the rules."

They laughed at her teasing and continued to dance for a while until Van asked. "What's wrong, feeling nervous?"

"Mmmh, a little. Don't know why, this is a stupid ceremony anyways."

"Oh? If it's so stupid, why did you take several hours to get prepared for it? Why did you go out of your way to ask Cassandra's mother to hold the ceremony for you?"

Merle huffed and looked away, her earrings dangling slightly as she did so, glinting in the light. "Pffft, a waste of time too. I _always_ look pretty don't you think so? I'm not nervous."

Van smiled, giving Merle a slight nudge on the shoulder. "I didn't ask if you were nervous that time."

Merle crossed her arms, faking anger at Van. "I'm not nervous. Not about the ceremony anyways, but... Oh, they are calling me. I'll go see what they want." She gave one last look at Van before leaving him to the mercy of his adoring public and went over to see Cassandra, who was waving her over along with a group of her friends.

"Are you all having fun?" she asked, slightly nervous as to what they would say.

"Of course, it's great. There really haven't been any parties recently," one of the girls mentioned, a small cup of what smelled suspiciously like alcohol in her hand, "and Lord Fanel brought all those cute guardsmen too."

Merle rolled her eyes at her friend while others giggled; Sandra always had a one track mind. "So… is that all?" she finally asked.

Cassandra walked forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "We're thinking it's time to start, don't you?" A couple of the girls nodded, and Cassandra spoke up again, "Really, get it out of the way now, it's just a couple of words and then we go back to the party." Sandra, looking a little tipsy suddenly cut in.

"And you can finally go smooch Lord Fanel again!"

Van ordered a glass of water from the bartender, and was surprised when he drank it, finding it incredibly cool. Of course, he knew it would. The Cave, the name of the tavern this entire party was being held in, was well known as both a great spot and a piece of history. When Fanelia was being founded, an entrepreneur bought a small cave that dug into the rock faces of the mountains that surrounded the small fledgling town. When he found that the cave held no precious ores and instead houses a small stream, he built a tavern at the entrance, and extended it into the cave.

"If you don't mind me saying, you look like your mind isn't on the here and now."

Van was startled out of his history lesson by the Cave's owner and bartender, an old man with a large beard. "You should be watching that over there." He nodded his head in the direction of a large gathering of people. Van noticed that the band had stopped playing too, so it seemed that whatever was happening was important. He suddenly realized what is going on and moved closer to the crowd.

As he did so, he saw the band on stage move a bit, allowing Juna space to walk up and speak in front of everyone. "Well everyone, it's time to get started. Please come up to see the special girl."

It was Merle, standing in the center of the group, smiling nervously while everyone clapped and cheered for her.

Juna waited for everyone to calm down. "We are here to celebrate the 16th birthday of Merle," she was cut off again by the cheering and clapping of the guests again, "which, in our culture, means that she is no longer a child, to be sheltered and cared for, but that she is now a woman, ready to be presented to the world, to give shelter to others and to care for others." Juna noticed that Merle was blushing, and noticed that her eyes were solely placed on Lord Fanel when she said the last part. _Ah, young love._

"But, as we celebrate Merle's passing into adulthood, we also celebrate the people who helped her reach this moment, her friends and family. Would her friends please step forward?"

The crowd parted, a smaller group of girls coming forward. At the head of them was Cassandra, along with all her other friends. They each gave her a small gift ranging from necklaces, hairpins, dresses and even a small charm. A few of them, slightly embarrassed that they didn't have the money, had come together and made small friendship bracelets for her, inscribing the names of their small group in them.

They gathered around her and gave her hugs, the younger ones asking her how she felt, and the older ones inviting her into the "old hens group".

Their turn finished only when all her friends presented her with a bouquet of flowers, one from each girl. A small note was attached to it, 'Have fun being a lady!' with an even smaller one from Sandra reading 'Give Lord Fanel lots of kisses for all the girls who can't kiss their prince charming!'

"We celebrate the parents who helped Merle along with her life, who taught her to be the woman she will be now, though both her parents have left the world behind, we can be sure that they smile on and approve of Merle."

A few moments of silence went by where the party goers sent out their prayers to their departed rulers, and to the parents of Merle, whom many didn't even know. Merle thought of her parents, and of the brief moments she had spent with them, and wondered where they were now. She also sent her thanks to Lady Fanel, Varie, who had almost on a whim taken her into the castle. She had always wondered why she had done this, why she had been picked, out of many orphans, to live with them in the castle? She had never asked her of course, she thought her luck would run out, that she would sound ungrateful and be sent into an orphanage. Lady Fanel would never do such a thing, she'd never send her away, but still she never asked.

Before ending, she whispered another silent thank you to her, since if it wasn't for her, she would have never met her son, Lord Van, and never fallen in love with him.

A few of the people raised their glasses and drank in honor of their rulers.

After this, Juna continued, causing Merle to become even more nervous. "And now, nearing the midnight hour, we celebrate Merle's passage into adulthood that she is now free to be a woman with all the choices and freedoms that entails. Would Lord Fanel please step forward?"

All the eyes turned to Van, and moved out of his way. He took it in stride, and walked up to Merle, taking her hand in his. Cassandra came up to her and took the bouquet of flowers from her hand, letting Merle place both of her hands in his.

"As a woman, Merle is now presented to the world, free to choose how to live her life, and if she wishes who to spend it with." The girl in question blushed under Van's gaze. "As we all know, she is currently in a relationship with Lord Fanel-"again she was cut off by girls cheering for her and fawning over their king, men cheering for Van, and several other people simply laughing and smiling for the couple, "so it is only appropriate for Lord Fanel to be the one to dance with Merle until midnight." Juna stepped down, and the band began playing a slow waltz.

"May I take this dance?" Van asked, bowing before Merle. She forgot her nervousness, and noticed that she wasn't blushing anymore, feeling cooler in her dress. She curtsied before him, small giggles coming from the crowd around them.

"Of course, Lord Van."

Van lowered the veil that was covering her hair, and drew a small flower he had been hiding in his front pocket and very carefully placed it in Merle's hair. They beamed smiles at each other, and got into their dancing positions, Merle loving the comfort he brought to her. She began humming along with the band's music, resting her head on Van's chest as they danced. She stumbled a little, since she had never taken any dancing lessons, but was glad that Van had, since he was mostly leading her. She was also glad that he wasn't trying to dance anything fancy, since he was covering up for most of her mistakes. "You are a good dancer Lord Van, all those dancing lessons paid off."

"You too," he said, though she felt his words through his chest before she heard them. She laughed, and looked him square in the eye.

"Liar. We both know I have two left feet."

As they danced, Juna watched the two, along with everyone else. It wasn't long after that that her friend, a boy she had known from her old tribe, offered to dance with her. She immediately accepted, and walked out into the dance floor with him, feeling slightly embarrassed that a woman her age could feel so giddy simply because of a man. Others soon followed, Cassandra and her current boyfriend, some of Merle's friends dragging young men into the dance floors, and married couples too. Friends, siblings and parents also danced, simply enjoying the fun.

"It wasn't so bad was it?" Van asked, looking around at the dancing couples. "The ceremony I mean, so there was no reason to be nervous."

"Oh you say that because you've been to a lot of these things. Your coronation ceremony off the top of my head."

"I guess that's true. So, how do you feel now that you aren't a little girl anymore?"

"I'm not a little girl!"

Van simply laughed at her, her retort simply making her sound like a child, Merle puffed up her cheeks in anger, and her tail could be seen shooting straight up, before she suddenly joined in on his laughter. "Well, I'm not a lady yet, so you still can't kiss me. You have to wait until midnight." She glanced over at the giant clock that dominated a nearby wall. "So…" she squinted, "about 6 more minutes."

"I don't think I can wait that long." Van admitted. He suddenly turned serious, looking straight at her. "Merle, I want you to be honest with me. What do you feel about me?"

Though no one noticed, not even them, they had stopped dancing. Merle felt a lump in her throat, nervous and scared. She really had no choice now but to tell him, and even if she could simply get away with telling him she liked him, she didn't want to anymore.

"Lord Van, I love you. I've loved you for a long time now, for as long as I can remember."

If he was shocked by her answer, which he was, he didn't show it. Instead simply drawing Merle into a tight hug. "I'm sorry for not having noticed earlier Merle. You don't deserve that."

Merle simply shrugged and smiled, "It's better late than never," she said, noting that he hadn't returned her words. She felt confused when Van pulled away from her, though he still held on to her hands.

"Merle, I'm sorry I didn't realize earlier, you don't deserve that," he repeated, "but now I have realized it, and now I do know what you deserve."

She looked at him, who looked quite handsome in his suit, her heart beating faster than it had ever had before. A very small voice told her what was coming next, but she didn't dare.

"Merle, I love you."

The clock struck midnight, a large bell ringing deep within it. Cassandra, who had been dancing with her boyfriend, along with all everyone else, gasped. Everyone cheered, and she immediately turned towards Merle to congratulate her, as did everyone else. However, they were all stopped in their tracks when they suddenly saw their king, Lord Fanel, descend down to one knee and pull out a small black box.

Merle was wrong; _this_ was the moment where her heart beat faster than it ever had before. She was dumbfounded, she couldn't think straight. Ever since Van had told her those three beautiful words her world had slowed down to a crawl. She watched as he moved down on one knee in slow-motion, heard everyone's breath caught in their mouths, and felt all manner of wondrous feelings occurring in her body. She was almost blinded when she saw the shining gem that appeared out of the small black box, and recognized it instantly as the wedding ring Lord Fanel had given Lady Varie.

It was a small golden band with two small carved dragons that seemed to hold a bright emerald gem in place.

Van held up the box to her, the gem still shining within it.

"Merle, will you marry me?"


	21. Set Course

**Author's NOte: **I had no idea how to write this chapter, massive writers block struck me after opened up the word doc to being this page, and it only vanished two days ago. Anyways, here it is. Hopefully it isn't as bad as I think it is. Oh yeah, and I realized Asturia _doesn't_ have a U after the first a. So I guess I'll have to go back and edit all those u's out.

* * *

_**Set Course**_

"Why aren't you going with them?"

Millerna and Merle both stood side by side as they watched Van, Allen and several Asturian noblemen and women, King Aston included, walk ahead towards the carriages that would take them towards the castle.

"I don't like politics," Merle replied, waving at Van before he entered the small carriage, noting angrily that two noblewomen decided to board the same one as he did, "they make me fall asleep. Are you sure you don't have to go? You _are_ the princess, so you should be there shouldn't you?"

"No," Millerna added, turning towards her own private carriage with Merle in tow. As they neared it a servant opened the door for them, bowing as they passed him and climbed into the vehicle. Sitting down, and waiting for Merle to take the seat opposite her, she continued. "No, father doesn't like to have any sort of negotiation so early. He'll usually start them an hour or so before dinner, and then continue afterwards." She rolled her eyes, remembering her father's habits in slight annoyance, "He'll probably drag everyone out to the coliseum to watch guymelef fights first… So, what did you want to tell me?"

"Well first, could we start heading to the plaza? I'll tell you on the way."

"Oh, sure," Millerna replied, turning and pushing open a small window shutter and pulling aside sine small curtains, "driver, can you please take us to the plaza? Thank you." Soon they heard a reply through the window and felt the carriage lurch forward as the driver ushered the horses forward. "Alright, so are you going to tell me now?"

Merle leaned forward and put her hand out, wiggling her fingers to draw attention to them. Millerna's gaze was immediately caught by the emerald gem that rested on one of her fingers, her ring finger. After a shocked gasp escaped her mouth, she suddenly looked up to Merle's beaming face. "Wha-who?"

"What do you mean who?" was the suddenly and angry reply. "Who do you think?"

"Van? But, when did this happen and how?" Millerna asked, surprised by this sudden revelation. "I, I knew you had a crush on Van… but now you are engaged? Tell me the whole story."

"Well…" Merle began, tapping a finger to her lips to give the illusion of hard concentration. "I guess Lord Van started noticing me after my accident, I-" she paused when she saw Millerna giving her a concerned stare. She turned slightly in her seat, allowing Millerna to see the faint scars that ran along her shoulder. "It's nothing, I was on top of a building when it collapsed and Lord Van saved me. After that, well I guess he realized what a special, loveable girl I am and started dating me. He asked me to marry him last week on my 16th birthday and… now we are here."

She noticed the frown on Millerna's face and sighed.

"In case you are wondering, our dates mostly consist of working on paperwork together, or having dinners together. Not very exciting stuff, but I love it. And yes, we have kissed."

The rest of the trip to the plaza, which was taking longer than usual, was filled with their conversation. Merle continued to go on and explain her relationship to Van, answering questions and explaining when Millerna had a question, it was only cut short when the driver announced that they had arrived at the plaza.

"Miss Aston," his voice came in through the window behind Millerna, "we are here at the plaza, though because of the crowds I can't drive in forward."

"That's fine. Come on Merle, we'll just walk."

They both excited the carriage, Millerna excusing the driver from any further duties and waving him goodbye. They soon found themselves back in the crowds and hustle of the plaza, and Merle was immediately amazed at the loud music that was created by all the shoppers, tourists, merchants and performers. Noting the prices listed all around on stalls, Merle reached under her dress and pulled out a small pouch containing all her money.

She frowned.

"Hey, do you know where all the book stores are? I want to buy a book."

Millerna, who had already begun looking at a small necklace, turned to Merle, a look of confusion on her face. "Books? Yes I do know where we can find a bookstore but… what book are you buying?"

"What? I can't read books, is that what you are saying?"

"What book are you buying?"

"_Updated Atlas of the World_."

"I didn't know you were interested in cartography Merle."

"Ha!" Merle exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips in a proud stance which drew a few stares from those nearby, "Of course I am, I'm all about maps and the making of maps! Hahahahaha!"

"It's been nothing but surprises with you Merle, first you tell me you are engaged to Van, and now you reveal you understand the word cartography. What's in store next?"

"I'm not stupid you know," Merle said, slightly offended, "I know big words since I was taught by a Fanelian advisor inside the castle, I just don't use them that often. So are you going to show me this bookstore or not?"

They both headed off in the direction of the docks, Millerna explaining that stores and merchants that sold heavier items were located there because it was easier to ship their supplies. Merle nodded, a single book wasn't all that heavy, though the giant tome ones could be a burden to carry, several of these books being moved at a time might weigh as much as any piece of furniture. As they reached the dock area the smell of the nearby Captured Sea drifted in, along with the calling of seagulls and the ringing bells of ships pulling in to dock. Merle saw several different ships besides the normal freight ships off in the distance and docked into areas that seemed more heavily guarded, the private piers and docs of Asturia. She counted several ships she couldn't identify and even one Zaibach ship. Before she could ask Millerna why one of their ships was here, she was pointed in the direction of an old building, with the name Page Turner labeled out front. They walked in, a chime ringing as the door swung open, and were greeted by an elderly lady wearing glasses.

"Oh, the princess is in my store today. What can I do for you Lady Aston? Are you looking for any particular book?"

Millerna bowed and then shook her head. "No thank you, but my friend here is looking for a book. Merle?"

"Yes, do you have a book called _Updated Atlas of the World?_ "

The old lady thought for a bit, her face gaining even more wrinkles as she furrowed her eyebrows in concentration. "Why yes, I believe it a few of those books came in last shipment, please check the geography section young miss."

"Thank you." Merle responded before turning away and heading deeper into the store, reading the name of isles as she searched for her intended area. "Found it." She announced to no one in particular, and walked in. "Uhh… right." She suddenly remembered why she didn't like libraries or book stores, you had to find the book yourself, and that meant reading all the titles and the names of the authors. She crouched down as she read the names of books, and sighed. "Are these arranged by title or author?"

"Neither, I'm afraid."

Merle looked up to see Millerna browsing the aisle, checking the names of authors and titles of books along with her. "She's a nice lady, I met her a while back while searching for a book myself. Her son usually arranges these books for her, but he's currently serving in the Asturian Army as a sapper due to the education he gained from reading engineering books."

"Oh." Merle said, and then turned back to browsing the books. A couple of minutes passed by, neither knew there were so many maps being made in the world, when Merle finally found what she was after. "Finally. Stupid book was hidden behind some papers." Strands of blonde hair suddenly fell into Merle's peripheral vision, indicating her friend was peering over her shoulder.

"Is it the right edition?"

"It better be, for all this searching. Let's go and pay."

After paying and saying goodbye to the old lady, they walked out of the store, the sea breeze in their faces once again. Merle looked at the book with a satisfied look on her face and it wasn't long until Millerna spoke up. "So, I think we both know by now that this book isn't for you. It's for Van right?"

"Yes, it is. He saw a merchant reading from it a while back. He, the merchant I mean, said he'd sell the book to Lord Van but that he can't, since he uses it to find his way around Gaea. Lord Van actually likes to travel, and to learn about new places, but since… well, you know."

The rest of their few hours were spent browsing the shops and seeing several of the sights Palas had to offer. Around sunset they decided to head back towards the castle, as they were both expected to be there during the dinner. Millerna decided walking was too much of a chore, and hailed one of the various people who operated taxi carriages around the city and paid him for their trip towards the castle. While on the way there, Millerna pointed out the window to a construction site where Merle saw several workers adding what seemed to be a new section of a building. "That is the new wing of medical sciences being added to the Asturian First Academy, it'll be open by next spring, if we can find enough doctors to fill in the teaching positions."

Merle simply nodded.

"Merle, what are you going to do after the dinner?"

"What do you mean, I thought we were still going to hang out and talk more about girl stuff? Because otherwise I have nothing and I'll be bored."

"No Merle, I'm going to actually stay and hear the negotiations."

"But I thought-"

"No, we skipped out on them because there was nothing important going on, but after dinner the actual talks to begin. And even though I don't have any official power my father _is_ the king, and he does listen to me. On the other hand, you are going to be the queen of Fanelia, you can and you probably are expected to go to these things just as much as Van is. Not only that, but even though I don't know Fanelian law very well, I can bet that Van will allow your words and decisions to have just as much weight as his words." She realized the catgirl had a blank expression on her face, as if this had never occurred to her before. "Merle, you have thought about this haven't you?"

Merle, for her part, hadn't thought about. She had been too overwhelmed by feelings of love and happiness, and thinking about finally being married to Lord Van to realize that not only was she agreeing to be with him forever, which she didn't mind and looked forward to, but that she had agreed to rule and lead Fanelia with him. She suddenly felt very embarrassed and scared. "I actually didn't."

Their trip towards the castle was far shorter than their trip towards the plaza, since only a select few could even enter the castle grounds, as such there was no traffic on the way. They spent most of it in silence, Merle lost in thought about the future responsibilities she would take; Millerna breaking the silence here and there to attempt to put her fears and nervousness to rest. "You should stay after the dinner Merle, and at least hear the negotiations, to get an idea of how they work, what goes on. I'm sure Van will appreciate it."

"But I don't," the nervousness was clear in the girl now, "I don't even know what this is about. Or who is there."

"Merle, don't worry so much. Just try your best, Van will be there to hold your hand right? Figuratively and literally. I'm sure he won't expect you to be an expert on international politics already, just be there, learn, listen. That's all."

By now they were inside the palace, guards bowing as Millerna passed them by and receiving a friendly smile in turn. Even though Merle was fretting over her future, she did take the time to notice how differently the Asturian castle and the Fanelian castle were run and built. Palas Castle was large and imposing, with high ceilings and several arches along the hallways, with most of the walls dominated by large paintings of past members of the Aston family. If it was designed to remind everyone that Asturia was a dominant political and economic power, it worked. They walked along these walls before they noticed loud conversation and the smell of food come from the direction of the dining hall. "Oh no, they've already started. Well, let's hope they don't mind us showing up late."

For the second or so that silence filled the dining hall, with all the eyes of kings and queens and one president Merle thought everyone was looking at them with disapproving eyes, 'How dare they come late to a dinner?' and such. It wasn't until King Aston recognized his daughter and welcomed them both in that she felt a little relieved, and it wasn't until Van came over and took her hand in his did she feel safe. They turned towards the others, who were greeting Millerna and walked towards them.

"Lord Van, I'm nervous."

"You'll be fine Merle, now let's introduce my future wife to everyone." Van simply nodded towards King Aston, before the older man clapped his hands, gaining everyone's attention.

"Everyone if you would please sit, the young King of Fanelia has an announcement to make."

The guests sat at their seats, and watched as the Fanelian king walked hand in hand with a young woman, a cat woman some noted with slight disgust, towards the table. A few of them already guessed at the announcement, but waited for him to say it before doing anything.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Van began his eyes drifting over the people assembled here. He knew by the looks on their faces which of them already knew what he would say, and which of them were hiding their disapproval. But he wasn't here for their approval. "This is Merle, she has been my dearest friend all my life and more importantly, she will be my wife and the future queen of Fanelia."

Merle suddenly felt their eyes fall on her, and anything she was planning to say died in her throat. Finally she simply bowed her head slightly, and settled on "It is a pleasure to meet all of you."

Everyone stood up and applauded, and came and offered congratulations, shaking Van's hand and kissing Merle's, which caused her quite a bit of embarrassment. They sat down and resumed the dinner before them, trading idle conversation between each other. Most of this conversation centered on the two's engagement, the men asking Van questions while some of the ladies present asked Merle their own questions. Throughout the dinner Merle had to make a conscious effort to eat in a lady like manner and often turned to Van when she didn't know which fork or spoon or knife to use, and looked to him and the other ladies present when it came to drinking wine, which she wasn't very fond off. After a while she found that the conversation was actually enjoyable; though everyone here was a leader of a nation or related to one, she thought the conversation would be high above her head. She was surprised when they talked and acted like regular people. As the dinner went on, she learned to identify some of the people present, both through Van's help and her own idle chatter with them. The man with a missing eye and ear was the president of the Republic of Basram, a nation that like Zaibach had quite advanced technology, though luckily didn't share their ideas. She had to ask him exactly what a 'republic' was and was shocked to hear they had formed their government after a violent overthrow of their monarchs, something which quite obviously not lost on those present. Next to him was a beautiful young lady, no older than her, who introduced herself as his wife. The old man with a large beard and several sons and daughters was the King of Daedalus, the country to Fanelia's north. She had already met him years before on his occasional visits to the castle, and she even managed to remember the name of one of his daughters, though only because years before she had heard talks of marrying off Van to his daughter to strengthen their ties. The only people she didn't get along with were from Chezario, the small strip of mountainous terrain that bordered Zaibach to Asturia's northeast. They seemed friendly enough, but everyone present knew Chezario had latent human supremacy feelings and discriminated against "beast people". One of the people from that area however, was actually quite genuinely friendly with Merle, and even slipped her a message written on a napkin. 'Sorry'.

After an hour of eating and drinking, all the leaders stood up and excused themselves, with Van staying behind with Merle. "The negotiations are going to begin, they are going to decide how to proceed with Zaibach's new government, as well as how reparations should be paid out." He leaned in and kissed her, causing a few giggles from some of the women behind them, "I'll see you later tonight, if you aren't asleep by then." When he turned to leave she held on to his hands, and looked him straight in the eye.

"No Lord Van, I'm going to be your wife, I'm going to be a queen, and I can't do that if I'm already skipping out on these types of things. I'm going in there with you."


	22. Night at Palas

**_Night at Palas_**

The room Van had been given to use during his stay, which would last at least 2 more days, was expensive. That's the only way Merle could describe it. Expensive door leading into an expensive room made from expensive materials, furnished with expensive furniture and decorations, with one side of the expensive walls dominated by a large arching expensive window framed in expensive carved ivory.

The best part was the expensive bed.

It had probably cost about as much as a carriage or a horse or a weapon for a guymelef. It was so well made that the moment Merle simply slumped over and fell on it, exhausted from the previous 4 hour long meeting, she instantly recognized it for the single most soft, comfortable and relaxing bed that could ever exist. The soft fabric, the cushion that conformed to her body rather than fight against it, and still supported her, the sweet fragrance that tickled her nose with the smell of flowers this bed was truly worth whatever small fortune it had cost. The only thing keeping Merle from falling asleep right then and there was Van. Instead of collapsing on the bed and going immediately to sleep as Merle had planned, he, without a word or complaint, simply walked over to a nearby desk and began reading over the notes he had taken during the meeting. Merle sighed, not because the bed was comfortable or from fatigue, but because she was looking at once of the qualities that made her fall in love with Van. Most people would consider an all-expense paid trip to the economic capital of the land to be a great fun vacation, and it had been for Merle through most of her day, but not her Lord Van. Even when he was at the banquet with the other rules, or when they were watching guymelef fights and other acts and plays Asturia had set up to entertain its guests, she knew he was working. Any fun he was having during those moments was only secondary to his efforts to cultivate good relations with other leaders. Merle picked herself up from the bed and walked over to him, putting her hands on his shoulders and attempting to give him a message. "Lord Van, don't you think you should go to bed?" Over his shoulder she could see both his own notes and the few ones she had taken too. She winced at the sight, while his were filled with rhetorical questions Van asked himself to try to guess at the political power of each of the people present, along with small notes he wrote to himself about their respective countries, her own were simply names of the people she had met, along with a smiley or a frowny face. Along the sides of these 'notes' were several scribbles Merle had made which consisted of nothing but 'Lord Van & Merle forever' and 'Merle Fanel'.

Van, seeing this, chuckled. Merle Fanel. Maybe someone would think these names don't match together, but to him they did. He laughed again, no doubt confusing Merle, as he remembered how not too long ago he would think on the name 'Hitomi Fanel' in his mind. Now it sounded so out of place, Hitomi's foreign name just didn't make sense with the Fanel last name.

_Mmh, Merle Fanel._

"You're not laughing at my notes are you?"

"No Merle," Van said, still clearly amused, "I'm laughing for another reason. You know what though? I should take a break, I can read this tomorrow morning and I haven't seen you all day." He stood up and finally stretched his muscles. Merle began recounting her day's events to him as he made his way over to his bed and removed his gloves and boots. She giggled as she saw him wiggle his toes in freedom.

"That sounds fun, how is Millerna by the way? I didn't get a real chance to talk to her."

"Oh she's fine," Merle said as she sat down by him and latched onto his arm, "she's really going ahead with this medical school thing you know?"

"I do know. When we went towards the coliseum her father had our carriages go past the construction site, from the tone of his voice it sounds it sounds like he doesn't care about the cost. It's one of the reasons Basram's president is here, they are supplied a lot of the doctors, textbooks and medical equipment in the first place. Did you-"he sighed. "I need to learn to separate my work from my personal life. So, would you liked to go back with me tomorrow? To the plaza I mean, just you and me, on a date."

"Of course Lord Van, I'd love to! Ooh, we can go to the pier and see the ships, or look at the stores, or sit by the fountains! Port towns are so romantic." A gasp escaped her lips as she suddenly remembered a bookstore down by the docks. "I've got something for you Lord Van. You're going to love me when you find out what it is." She let go of Van's arm and leaned back to grab her purse, her skirt pulling up giving Van a good look at her legs.

_That skirt has always been short._

This had never been a problem for Van. He had always thought of her as a best friend and almost as sister, adding to this was the fact that he was two years older than her, meaning that puberty came at different times for them. Once again adding to this was his schooling and training, activities which kept him occupied on things other than the feminine gender and its charms, and Van could say, somewhat embarrassedly, that he had never really had time to admire the female body. Of course, that stopped when he started dating Merle. He admired her a lot.

"Why don't you take a shadowgraph, it'll last longer."

Van turned and coughed, avoiding Merle's amused gaze.

He didn't like it when he was caught.

"So, if you can tear your eyes off of my pretty legs for just a moment Lord Van I have a present for you." She then came back up, bringing a large book up to Van's face, hiding a small blush as she did so. "Here, this is for you."

"The _Updated Atlas of the World?_ Merle, where did you buy this? Where did you even get the money?" Van asked, taking the book from his girlfriend's hands and flipping through the pages, his eyes scanning the detailed maps found within, reading names of lands and countries he didn't even know existed. "Merle," he turned, closing his new book as he did so, "thank you." He leaned in and kissed her.

"You're welcome." Merle responded as she looked over the two, happy that the effort she took to find that book was well spent. "So, how do you like your gift Lord Van? Tell me if it's the right edition, because if it isn't I'll snap." She wondered if Lord Van would tell her the truth, if this was the wrong edition he'd probably lie and say it was the most up to date one.

"Ha, I'm sure you would Merle," he replied with a teasing tone, "but don't worry, this is the most current edition. You didn't answer me, where did you buy this, and with what money?"

"Ah, that doesn't matter does it?"

"No, I guess it doesn't." Van stood up and yawned before shivering. "Well, Merle, if you don't mind I think it's time I head to bed. By the way, it's colder than Fanelia so I'm closing these curtains, you don't mind do you Merle?"

"Eh? Um, no I guess not Lord Van." Merle looked at him as he crossed the room and drew the curtains together, darkness enveloping the room as he did so. The lack of light didn't bother her though, her eyes adjusted quickly, she could see just as well and watched as he moved back to the bed, placing his book on a nearby desk as he did so and began to lift the covers to his bed. "Oh, sorry, I'll move, in fact, before you go to sleep, can you walk me to my room Lord Van? I didn't ask Millerna where it was."

"Merle, this is your room. It's our room." Through the darkness he could almost see Merle slightly jump with nervousness. "Merle, in Asturia no one seems to mind if a man and a woman share a bed if they are engaged." He knew he could see him even in this light, so he added a shrug and began to unbuckle his pants, folded them and slipped into bed. Merle slowly made her way towards him, trying to keep her eyes away from Van as he undressed, nervous the whole time.

"So, we're sleeping in the same bed."

"We have in the past."

"Y-yes but," Merle's voice was shaky, "Lord Van, never under the covers. You're not even wearing any pants!" Various thoughts ran through her mind, and a small part of her realized that she wasn't ready for this, not yet. "Lord Van, could you give me some time to get ready? I-I wasn't expecting you to be so forward and, I, well I… if it's you I'll do it in a heartbeat but… but…"

Van's eyes suddenly widened when he realized what she was so nervous about, and he acted quickly. "Oh, Merle. No. I mean, no nothing's happening tonight. I wouldn't-" he also suddenly found it very hard to get his message across, realizing just how badly bedside conversation was. Finally he let out a large sigh, stood up and held one of Merle's hands. "Merle, we're just going to sleep, share the same bed. Nothing will happen if we aren't ready." She smiled at him and slowly took of her own dress and quickly slipped into bed with him. She was wearing underwear of course, so he wouldn't see her nude, but she still felt shy. They lay there uncomfortably for a while before Merle heard Van laughing to himself.

"Look at us, the king of a country and his future queen sharing a bed together, uncomfortable because of a fear of intimacy. Funny isn't it?"

His comment set her off laughing too as she tried to laugh away her tension. Laughing they turned to look at each other and smiled. She moved in closer to him, felt him take her hand and kissed him, feeling both of them relax as they did so. "Thank you, Lord Van. For tonight I mean, for helping me during your meeting. I, do you think I'll be ok?"

Van, who had taken to playing with her hair to being his mind away from the closeness of their semi-nude bodies, looked down at her. "What do you mean ok?"

Merle's tail curled around, a sign of her inner insecurities showing up, "I mean as a leader. Of Fanelia, do you think… Well do you think people will accept me, and even if they did, do you think I'll know what I'm doing?" She paused for a while, causing Van to think she was done, but before he could begin she spoke up again, this time in a lower voice. "Lord Van, I love you. I've loved you for a long, long time," she felt his fingers pause, "and I'm scared. Not of being with you. I want to be with you, you make me so happy, more than you know, I'm scared of…" She let out an amused chuckle, "I guess I just never really realized what it would mean to be with you. And now that I realize that I'll have all these responsibilities, well I'm shocked. Silly I know, but I just want to know if you think I'll do ok, if I'll be fine. I want to know if you think I'm the right one not just for you, but for our country." She waited in silence for her Lord Van to respond. She almost didn't hear him when he began.

"Merle, you are the right one. For me and Fanelia, I know you are." He hugged her closer, drawing a surprised 'eep' from her. "I'll be there for you, ask me if you ever need help." He stopped, searching for more to say but was interrupted by their lips joining together. They looked at each other, all their feeling for each other swirling in their eyes and realized something.

They weren't uncomfortable anymore, and they were ready.

She looked at him and purred his name before leaning in and kissing him again, this time not afraid to lose herself in the moment. They kissed passionately for several minutes, as if this was their first time experiencing each others lips, and soon found their bodies, arms and legs entangled together, their hearts beating so fast and hard they could feel them in each other as sure as they felt their own. She pushed Van upwards, startling him as she did so, and when he was almost sitting upright she reached for his shirt and couldn't take it off of him fast enough.

She's seen him without a shirt on before so she shouldn't have been as flushed, excited and giddy as she was now, but she was. This time was different and she pounced on the change to touch him and kiss him the moment she could, knocking them both back as she did so. Van also didn't waste any time and Merle soon felt his hands running up her legs and grabbing onto the hem of her blouse, she stood up, her legs straddling Van's waist and cast off her clothing, her chest and body bare for him to see.

She let out a small startle when she felt Van's hands fondling her breasts, and smiled when she was his face completely focused on her chest. "My eyes are up here Lord Van." She leaned back down, her breasts pressing against his body, both of them noticing the warm feeling it gave them. "Shame on you Lord Van, staring so blatantly." she smiled and began kissing him again.

They continued, touching each other's bodies until they both noticed the excitment in their lower bodies. Not even bothering to stop kissing, or for Van to stop fondling one of Merle's breasts, they both laid back, and hurriedly and awkwardly took of their remaning clothing. Merle waited for Van to make the first move, locking eyes with him, nodding and saying "Lord Van, I'm ready." She closed her eyes and bit her lip, knowing she could expect a bit of pain when he first entered her, but nothing happened. She looked up at the man above her, "Lord Van please, I'm ready. I want this, make love to me" she purred again.

To her surprise Van simply looked away. Something was wrong. She was about to say something when he muttered "Well... it's dark and I can't really see..."

She laughed, which Van found quite beautiful, and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him once. "Right, here let me get that for you..." She reached down and found herself and felt around with her free hand for Van. Grabbing him, a wince of pain coming from Van, she placed him at her entrance. "Alright, there. Now make me yours Lord Van, I love you."

"I love you Merle."

"Forever?"

"Forever."

They held each other close and for the first time in their lives made love to each other.

* * *

The people of Asturia knew exactly who Lord Fanel was and what he had done. He was a great hero of the Zaibach War, a king who had to leave his country as it was destroyed around him and went on to fight Zaibach to avenge them becoming friends with both the princess, Sir Allen, and the young prince of freid. And then, when the war was over, he triumphantly returned home where, to this day, he fought to rebuild his homeland. Though he was a foreigner, he was well known and a celebrity in Fanelia.

However almost no one knew what he looked like, so they added in their own image of the young king whenever they heard the story of the Zaibach War. The most common image Asturian men held of King Fanel was that he was quite tall, had muscles as hard as steel, and so strong he could rip guymelefs in half with his bare hands. Women thought the same, but added looks that could capture a woman's heart for miles around. Children thought he could shoot lightning from his eyes and breathed fire.

Of course that Van wasn't real, though Merle would say that the image women had made of him was dead on. The real Van and his soon-to-be-wife Merle were walking through the very streets of Palas, entering stores or buying trinkets and food from vendors and enjoying a good laugh whenever they heard talk about "Lord Fanel the Guymelef Killer with Bare Hands". Yes, Van did have a defined body, built after years of hard work, swordsmanship training and warfare, but not to the extent popular myth expected of him. He also didn't dress like royalty, wearing an old red shirt and plain white pants, along with worn out leather work gloves and boots. So anyone who saw him didn't think much about him, just another teenager on a date with his girlfriend.

Allen, however, did notice something when he bumped into them near the docks. He was there overseeing a deployment of some Knights of Caeli back towards Zaibach to help keep the peace there. In the short time he had to spare before the got back to his duties, he noticed Van stood a bit higher and had an ever present smile on his face. He had a spring to his step and looked incredibly happy and relaxed. He then turned to Merle as they talked, and looked at her. When he did he almost felt as if he had to squint and shield his eyes lest her glow leave him blind. He knew their relationship had changed in a deep and permanent way, but when? As they left he racked his mind, trying to call up their behavior last time he saw them both together.

"Yesterday when they disembarked from the _Allegiance_." His eyebrows scrunched up in concentration. "But Merle went off with Lady Millerna for the day, they only met back during dinner and the first round of negotiations." His mind trailed off, "Things don't usually go well on a first round, so what?"

He spied their retreating forms, still feeling as if he had to squint away from a bright light. Suddenly it came to his mind.

"Oh."


	23. What'cha Gonna Do?

**Author's Note: **Woot. Thanksgiving is close by. Kinda sucks for me though, I don't have any vacation, classes all the way up to Wednesday afternoon. Oh right, I've changed the title of this story, because I realized the old one didn't make any sense. Also, in case you missed it, I added a minor sex scene in the previous chapter.

Oh and by the way, sorry I haven't said this sooner. But thank you to those that have reviewed this story I appreciate each and every one of them. :D

* * *

**_What'cha Gonna Do?_**

The Red Company was a rather large and notorious group of mercenaries that had roamed the eastern coast of Fanelia for quite some time. One of the main reasons that they had been so successful, both in their business of extortion, murder, human trafficking and in evading Fanelian authorities is because they were founded on the remains of an old Daedalus platoon. At 20 some odd men, they had retained at least a few Guymelefs and one airship. With that airship, and the knowledge that Fanelia had no airships of its own, the Red Company had been able to attack any unlucky traders, caravan group or settlement that they wished without fear of any sort of reprisal.

The Kingdom of Daedalus had no official stance on the Red Company, or why or how they had been able to steal military equipment from the Daedalus Army, or for that matter why the rest of the Daedalus Army had taken no actions to recapture an entire AWOL platoon. The late Lord Fanel had attempted several times to bring Daedalus into Fanelia to at least attempt to fix the problem. Or to even loan at least _one_ airship to help. When he received silence in response, he grew infuriated with Daedalus. It was only late in his career that he had gained the resources required to finally do something about this problem, but before he could begin work on that, other things got in the way.

His death was one of them.

If he was able to see Fanelia from the afterlife he would no doubt be angry that such a group was able to run free and do what they wished.

But now Merle was angry too.

They had recently gone and outright occupied a small port town to the east and demanded they be recognized as the rulers of said town. They were banking on the fact that Fanelia currently had almost no real army to speak off, and that even if they had managed to bring together a fighting force, their airship still gave them the upper hand. When Merle heard this only minutes after stepping off of the airship that brought them back to Fanelia from the summit at Asturia, she went into a fit of anger, one shared by the soldiers around her. She fumed and cursed that such cowardly men could live; only preying on weak defenseless and innocent people and, worst of all, get away with it.

While she could only rant and rave and despise these people from afar Van could do something about it. His solution to the problem was taking a small platoon of his own along with guymelef support to go and finally settle this problem once and for all.

And so, only moments after coming back home, Merle found herself alone in her room, in the dead of night, and completely unable to sleep. The town was about half a day's walk away, but the equipment Van and the soldiers took with them would slow them down; they'd probably reach the town by midmorning tomorrow, meaning that she had no reason to be worried. Van and the rest of the soldiers were safe for the moment.

"Please let them be ok," Merle said to herself as she fell back onto her bed, bouncing slightly from the impact. "I shouldn't worry, Lord Van is a good fighter and he's trained his soldiers well, they'll be fine, they'll come back and be fine." Feeling her eyes heavy the simply allowed sleep to overtake her.

* * *

The small port town of Ia sat on the very most eastern fringe of Fanelian territory and consisted of one link in the chain of port towns that had been established to gather the abundant resources from the ocean such as fish, crabs, seashells, exotic marine life and even dyes from squids.

When the Red Company took over they put their military training to good use and posted sentries on the high bell towers of the town church, had men guarding the road into town and the docks.

Van had used his soldiers lack of proper uniform, the Fanelian army decided wearing tailored uniforms wasn't as high on the list of priorities as simply getting people to sign up, to send a few scouts in ahead, pretending to be simple travelers. They brought back information, which revealed a few other things.

Besides simply using the homes and buildings of the small town, they put them to another use.

As shields.

They had scattered their tents and equipment stores throughout the town, which limited the options of any attacking force. The cannons Van brought, for instance, would be useless; he couldn't fire into the town without fear of hurting any of the townsfolk inside. Ballistae and catapults were out too.

Fortunately, they learned something else. No matter how good the Red Company was at retaining some of their military training, they had lost some of it too. The scout reported back that several of the mercenaries were at the local tavern, mostly passed out from a night of heavy drinking.

So the plan was simple.

Their own defenses would be used against them. Fighting inside a city meant Van couldn't order any heavy weapons for fear of hitting civilians, but it also meant they couldn't use the same for fear of hitting their own men. It also meant guymelefs would play a limited role; the town's roads weren't big enough for a guymelef to engage another without crushing people in the streets or nearby buildings. Only a skilled guymelef pilot could maneuver and fight under such conditions. The Red Company was also nearly falling down drunk which would severely inhibit their ability to fight.

Van hoped that, if the plan went as they all hoped they could silently pass through the sentries and surround the drunken Red Company members in the tavern and capture them. They'd trade the captured men for the town, or use them to make the leader, which they assumed was aboard the airship, surrender.

If not, well, the Escaflowne could fly. Van would have to reach the airship and attack it directly.

And so the operation began. Van stayed back with the Escaflowne and his guymelef troops and waited for a special signal, one of their soldiers would deploy a flare once they had either captured the drunken mercenaries or required backup. They waited a few minutes in the darkness of the outer forest in utter silence, the large machines he and his soldiers piloted deathly still in the night. Suddenly a small glowing burst of red flew up into the sky, its waving trail arcing at the height of its flight where it erupted in a brighter glow that illuminated the small town.

Seeing the beacon, Van signaled his captains to begin, and soon the signal passed down to their sergeants. Van turned and signaled his own squad of guymelefs, and soon the five guymelefs, surrounded by a section of combat troops rushed forward. The large war machines made thudding sounds that shook the entire town as they approached.

"No resistance?" Van muttered to himself inside his giant armor. They stopped, the section of soldiers fanning out and surrounding the Fanelian soldiers that had already herded the mercenaries into the town square. One of the soldiers walked up to the group and saluted, he was met with the Escaflowne kneeling down as close as possible to him and its faceplate opening up.

"Lord Fanel, we've captured what seems to be most of the Red Company, but we haven't seen any villagers nearby or at all. We recommend we question them, they might have them held somewhere else."

"Yes, that's a good idea," Van said, speaking up before the soldiers continued with "or already executed the townsfolk". He knelt back up and looked around the area, one of his guymelefs coming over to him, faceplate open.

"Lord Fanel, maps of this area show a small clearing near a cave nearby… if the Red Company moved the villagers, it'd be there. Maybe we should dispatch some of the soldiers there?" He had to raise his voice to speak to Van since they couldn't stand close to each other because of their machines.

Van nodded, while looking back at the captured men nearby. From what he knew of them they weren't idiots, they were smart. "Yes, begin looking for volunteers; take a small group, not in uniform." He looked back at the captured soldiers, "Take men who "look" like mercenaries, also take some of the clothing off of our prisoners, it'll help you avoid being seen if you look like a Red Company mer-" His eyes suddenly went wide and he turned back. All the mercenaries were wearing hats, or masks. "Soldiers!" he yelled out, startling everyone. "Take off their masks and hats!"

He was only met with confused stares, to which he simple yelled "Quickly!" Soon his soldiers finally followed his orders, only to become even more confused. Instead of the scarred, grizzled and dirty looking drunken mercenaries they found normal looking people. They were drunk and almost catatonic, but beyond that they were normal. One soldier realized what was going on before anyone else did. "They look like run of the mill villagers. Wait, it's a tra-"

He was cut short by a terrible sound like thunder, followed by a whistle that grew and intensified over time; it was the sound of an incoming barrage of fire. Before any of them could realize what had happened, what blunder they had walked into, or to even begin to turn and run for cover, several explosions erupted all around them.

Amidst the flames, Van screamed as the Escaflowne's chest armor burst open in an explosion of metal and fire.

* * *

Merle suddenly awoke to find herself shaking, sweating, hard of breath and scared beyond her wits. She noticed she was crying, and started looking around her room as she tried wiping away her tears in a vain effort to find something comforting and failed. She grabbed her sheets and tried to curl them around her, bringing them in closer but found they were inadequate as company and didn't comfort her at all.

So she did what she always did when a nightmare awoke her in the middle of the night.

She snuck into Van's room.

It was easy and even in the dead of night and scared witless she found it. Even if her eyes had been closed the entire way, and they nearly were due to tears, she could have found it. It had taken her two days to memorize the path to his new room, the King's room, but she knew the path just as surely as she knew the path to his old room. She reached it by sneaking in through side window that was quite easily reached by her and only her, no one else in Fanelia had years of experience running along the rooftops or her agility, save Van himself.

Inside his room she immediately headed for his bed and threw herself upon it. She noted a small depression from his favorite spot on the bed, the side and place he usually slept in, and her nose caught his scent upon the mattress. After their first night together sleeping in different beds just felt wrong.

She suddenly smiled and giggled through her tears.

"Hah! We have to pretend to be virgins."

She found that immensely hilarious and her giggles turned to full on laughter. Here she was, sleeping in his bed and worried sick about him because of some stupid nightmare, his best friend for all his life, her first kiss and the girl who is going to be his wife and queen of the land.

And they can't even be upfront about losing their virginity to each other before their wedding night.

They still had to sleep in different rooms. "People can be so stupid sometimes," she muttered to no one but herself, trying to make conversation to keep her mind off of her worries, "why can't we sleep in the same bed? Why can't we… be together?" She huffed and wrapped herself in Van's blankets. "Stupid humans and their stuffy customs."

"Now we have to wait until… we're married?" Merle's face scrunched up in confusion as she thought to herself. _When are we getting married? We haven't talked about this but, I don't think we have a set date. We decide when we want to do it though, it's not like anyone can tell Lord Van "sorry king, you can't get married yet". _She blushed in the darkness and pulled herself deeper into the covers, wanting to hide her embarrassment and dirty thoughts from the night. She knew, to her great embarrassment and amusement, that once his advisors had found out about their engagement that they started pestering Van to produce an heir, and for that he had to get married as soon as possible, at least in their eyes. She smiled as a warm feeling grew in her body, _Well, he is following their suggestions. Just not in the right order._

Thinking about all of this had calmed her down, though she still realized she was worried about him.

"I better get used to it."

If she was going to be at his side in the future, she knew there was the chance he would have to go out and fight again. Maybe not in some war, but maybe in things like this. Against pirates, or mercenaries, or even go to areas hit by natural disasters, it was his duty after all. But what would she do when that happened? If it was just her, as it was now, she'd worry her heart out, cry for him to be safe and have nightmares that he wasn't.

"But it's not just me anymore." She sat up in his bed, her eyes fierce. "I can't do this anymore. People are going to start depending on me to keep my act together, to be strong just like Lord Van is." She thought back on her time helping him on all his paperwork, of her effort to understand the negotiations they had done in Asturia, how proud he was that she was trying. "That's it!" she proclaimed while banging her fist into her small hand, "I'm not going to sit around here like some scared little girl! It's time I grow up and put everything I have into this, I'm going to make Lord Van _and_ every one in Fanelia proud to have me!"

She suddenly threw off her covers and leapt out of Van's bed. "And the first thing I'm going to do is plan our wedding!"


	24. While You Were Gone

**Author's Note: **Goddamit, I had forgotten that my finals come up during these two weeks. The Shakespeare one was cake, but the math and engineering ones required more study so sorry about that. Well, to those who are reading this you have my thanks, but please review.

* * *

_**While You Were Gone**_

Maria was the head of the committee that oversaw all major events, from festivals to parades, city wide decoration and beautification and planned all banquets and balls inside the castle itself. Of course, with Fanelia's current state she hadn't had much work in the past year and a half; the only things she had to work on were Van's announcement and, regrettably, the execution of the recent murderer. Like all the other Fanelians whose jobs had been postponed or destroyed by Zaibach's attach she'd found something else to do in the meantime. In her case she chose to devote that free time into helping the family that had decided to take in all the orphaned children, their home acting as an impromptu children's home, which is where Merle found her.

"Of course I've love to help plan your wedding Lady Merle!" she said, standing in the middle of the children's playroom. "You know I knew you'd come asking for me sooner or later," she added with a smile on her face as she made her way to Merle, little children looking up at the newcomer in the room, with one girl clutching hat Maria's dress and perpetually hanging on to her, "Oh, I knew it, I knew it! So... when do you want to start?"

Merle smiled, the woman's enthusiasm clearly visible in her and offered to shake her hand, which she took. "Well, I'd like to start as soon as possible, uh, are you-should I come back later, when you are done here?"

"No no, it's fine. I'll go in and check with Mr. and Mrs. Millfield, but I'm sure they have enough help for the moment since I'm sure Helen is here…" She seemed to drift off for a moment, possibly to think if any of the other help was in at the moment. "Well, I'll just go check in with them if it's ok for me to leave, but I'm sure they'll say yes."

Merle nodded and watched as she left, leaving her alone in the room with a bunch of children.

It wasn't a bad thing; she always liked children and always wanted some of her own. She smiled as she wondered how her children would look, she knew Lord Van and her would have some, not only because he _had_ to have some to have an heir to the throne, but because he loved her and _wanted_ to. They'd probably have a boy, she just knew they would. A baby boy that they would love and cherish. Their children would all look like Lord Van, children between humans and cats like her always resulted in human looking children. Maybe they'd even get his wings? Maybe other women would be saddened by the thought of their children looking more like their father than they did her, or that her children wouldn't be cats like she was, but that didn't matter.

"_I'll love our kids no matter what color they are."_

She looked down and saw a few of the children walk over to her, curiosity overcoming their shyness. "Hey," she smiled at them and kneeled down to their level and noticed they were all girls, "how's it going?" She looked at them all, finding them incredibly adorable. One of the girls, her hair tied in ponytails, walked up to her and started petting her.

"Ooh kitty!"

"What." Merle stated. Normally she's say that in question format, but the little girls' statement simply floored her brain.

"She's pretty!"

"Can I have your dress? I'll give you this milk if you trade, but no trade backs!"

Normally Merle's temper would have kicked in by now, but the amount of adorable she was witnessing kept her in check. She loved children. She simply smiled at them and asked them their names and laughed along with them, she even let the little girl who thought she was a kitty, her name was Sandra, continue petting her. Then they asked her where she lived and was met with gasps from the entire group.

"Wow, you live in the castle so are you a princess?"

"She's a kitty princess!" Sandra happily proclaimed while hugging the older girl.

"Yup and she's going to get married soon and become a pretty queen." Maria added, causing all the girls heads to turn to her, with Merle noticing that she carried a small bag. At her comment another round of "Ooohs" came from the group of children around them. They all turned to Merle, their eyes wide, but before any of them could speak Sandra tightened her hug on Merle and blurted out "You're going to be the Kitty Queen! Ah Kitty Queen Kitty Queen!"

"Yes I am," Merle said with a laugh. She looked at the girls and noticed the funny looks on their faces and remembered herself at that age. They looked no more than four or five, maybe pushing six, around the same age that she had been brought into the castle and met Lord Van.

"Can we go to your wedding?" One of the girls, Mary, asked.

"Sure, you can all come and be flower girls," Merle decided, causing a few of them to smile or pump their small fists in the air in determination to be the best flower girls in the world. Even the ones that didn't know what flower girls were.

"Now now girls, let's leave Lady Merle be, we have to go plan her wedding to Lord Fanel, and that can't happen if she's here chit chatting with you all day now can she?" She turned to Merle and motioned towards the do, indicating that she was ready to leave whenever she was, but as they moved towards the exit Merle felt a small tug on her skirt and looked down to find Mary looking up at her and almost on the verge of tears.

"Y-you're getting married to King Van?"

Merle nodded, confused and scared. She loved children, but she didn't like crying children.

And that's when the tears came and Mary started crying, in between her sobs she cried "But but but, but I wanted to marry King Van!"

* * *

An hour later, the amount of time it had taken to calm down Mary and make their way towards the castle, Merle and Maria stood in front of the castle, simply standing around and occasionally greeting passing guards or villagers. "The location is obvious, since this is the only place everyone in Fanelia can see the ceremony even if they can't hear it."

"It's a great way to honor tradition too," Maria added, scribbling in a notebook she carried around to jot down details for the wedding, "only the First King and Queen of Fanelia never married in the castle courtyard, and that was simply because they were already married when they established Fanelia, some 400 years ago. All the kings and queens married here in the courtyard in plain view of everyone. Ok, so we have the location, what about decoration?"

"Flowers of course, any kind since I don't have a favorite. I was thinking, I want the theme to be similar to my 16th birthday, in the style of the clan I came from. I… don't know much about it, but I know someone who would." She said, remembering Juna. "I can set up another meeting with you two later on, maybe today, do you know Juna?"

"Yes I do," Maria nodded, scribbling her name down in her notebook and underlining it several times, "she's Abaharaki I believe and sets up many of the birthdays and ceremonies for your people. Don't worry, I know how to contact her." More scribbling. "Mmmh, so I take it Lady Merle, that you would want a dress in a similar theme? I wasn't at your recent birthday, but my daughter was and told me all about your dress, it was all she could talk about for a while. Juna helped you with that no?"

"Yeah, Juna had one of her friends take my measurements for that dress, so ask her about it, hopefully they still have those around somewhere. Oh, either way I guess I'll have to go down and get measured again for the new dress." They had been pacing around while talking and now came to a stop right in the center of the courtyard when Merle twirled around. "Ok! So, we have the place, decoration, Juna and her friend can help you out with that and with the dress, but we first need to talk to them. Mmmhhh, all we need now is a priest and a guest list."

"And a date," Maria added, "but that'll be decided by your guests from outside of the city. Everyone in Fanelia will drop whatever they are doing to come here, that's sure, but… well Lord Fanel is friendly with quite a few important people from other kingdoms, and we can't expect them to drop their important duties at the drop of a hat right? Oh and by the way you don't need a priest, Lord Fanel can marry you himself."

"What?" Merle asked, confusion on her face. How could they get married without a priest?

"Well, and I only found this out recently, so it's no big deal. But all marriages are conducted by the church here in Fanelia, but the marriage certificates have to be stamped and approved by the kingdom itself. Lord Fanel is the final link in that chain, he either approves or denies, but I've never heard of him doing such a thing, all marriages in Fanelia." Merle suddenly remembered several papers that she had helped him sort and work on, all of them bearing names of both a woman and man, and found that now those papers and their purpose made sense. "_But_," Maria continued with added emphasis, "when the king takes on a queen _they_ are the final link in that chain. There's no one above them to approve or deny their marriage. It's the same way that he doesn't _need_ to ask permission to allocate funds to any project he wishes, or to fund an army, or any other thing."

"Well, I didn't know that." Merle sighed mentally berating herself. _How do you plan to rule this country with Lord Van if you don't even know all of Lord Van's duties? Calm down, no use getting worried now._ "Ok, so are we done for today?"

Maria looked over her notes while tapping her pencil on its binder. "Lady Merle, I believe we are. We still have to talk to Juna and her friend, and you still have to write letters to your guests and talk with Lord Fanel and set a date. But, well since I'm head of the committee that plans these sorts of things… well Lady Merle, quite frankly, you could be married as soon as Lord Fanel comes back."

That information completely left Merle dumbfounded. It was true now that she thought about it. There was absolutely nothing stopping Van from simply calling everyone up to the courtyard the moment he came back, sending messengers to the city to call the villagers up and proclaiming them husband and wife, king and queen, right then and there.

"No," she mumbled to herself and then to Maria. "No, we'll invite our friends. I want them to be here when," _when my deepest wish comes true,_ "when Lord Van and me tie the knot."

"Of course Lady Merle, well, it's still quite early, I don't think it's even past midday yet, I'll go back into town and see Juna now, could you come by and visit her or me later today and see how things are going? Great. Ooh how I love weddings!" And with that she turned and walked out of the courtyard and disappeared from view when she started going down the steps towards the castle.

Merle waved at her retreating form, though it was a useless gesture since Maria never once turned back. Finally she sighed and stretched, and decided it was time she start reading up on the duties she would have to take up.

An hour later Merle was lying down in the grass of the castle garden, a stack of large books sitting beside her with a much smaller book opened up in front of her, her eyes scanning it diligently. She had started reading the books to her side first but soon found that they discussed concepts far beyond her understanding and, after tracking down and asking the castle librarian, discovered that she was reading one of the final tomes in a series. A few minutes of searching led her to the smaller book which she now read, the first in that series. It was nothing terribly engrossing, her current read were the notes and memoirs of Lord Morris Slanzar, the first king and founder of Fanelia. All future lords and ladies of Fanelia read these notes, mainly for the small ramblings he wrote on legal systems and their foundations, and also partly for insight into the founder of their nation. From what she read Merle could tell that Lord Morris was a kind man, he loved his wife and son with all he had, and, most importantly, felt relieved that he had written down some of his fears and anxieties within this small book. He was just like she was, he hadn't actually chosen to be crowned king of early Fanelia, the townsfolk under him and had followed him when he established the small town had chosen him to act as their leader.

Turning the page and reading on, she remembered that Lord Van had similar fears. Now that she was had said yes to him she knew the types of fears he had felt no less than two years ago. And she knew what type of position it put him in. When he was going to assume the role of King he had no one to turn to except her. Merle remembered several times when she knew he wasn't feeling well or had something on his mind, and she remembered all the times she had to calm him down or sooth him with encouraging words.

_Ah, _she smiled, _now I'll be the one who's scared and he'll be the encouraging word in my life._

With a smile still stuck on her face, she continued reading the small book, trying to understand as much as she could, not just for herself but for her love.

And so she continued, reading Lord Morris' book. He talked about all the villagers, he could name them all since there were only twenty-one homes in Fanelia at the time guarded by all of seven men and the budding relation the small town enjoyed with the nearby clans of beast peoples. She frowned slightly when he noted that most of the villagers held bigoted views towards the beast men and had been wary of settling in an area "infested with the brutes", but found herself cheering on when he insisted they attempt to form trade with the surrounding clans. There was no mention if Lord Morris or his wife held the same views, though he noted their son was friends with some of the clan children, or if he was putting aside his own feelings to establish something that would be helpful for his people. Merle hoped he didn't share those feelings, but considering the era he lived in she didn't hold her breath. On the other hand, if he did hold the same views as his fellows of the times… Merle found herself slightly admiring that. He was willing to put aside his own views and make decisions that his people didn't fully agree on, in this case trading with the clans, if it benefited his people. Lord Van had done the same when they implemented rationing when Fanelia while people protested the decision and thought he'd horde the meager supplies for the castle itself. Of course they were wrong, and now there probably was nary a soul in Fanelia who would say the rationing hadn't been a good decision.

She turned and read on and was reading about his ruminations about establishing some sort of court system and what type of legal system they would follow. _"If my son wants to grow up on a peaceful society," _she read on in her mind, _"then I must set to work on written laws like any other country. Shame that Geados had to pass away last month, his learned mind would have been useful in this endeavor. Perhaps I shall travel to Asturia when possible and hire…"_

_"… perhaps if we planted the seeds in crop rotation, though I'll have to ask Ferdinand to set that up, since he was a plantation owner back in Freid.."_

"_Karin and Goff were married today. I'm quite happy for those two, everyone had a feeling that they'd been eyeing each other since last spring and now finally they decide to get married. Maybe Karin can talk some sense into that lad, and get him to stop this nonsense about joining the army back in Asturia…"_

…

…

…

_Wha?_

"Lady Merle, wouldn't it be more comfortable to sleep inside?"

"Uh, wha-" Merle eyes blinked open and, due to her grogginess and disorientation, wondered if she had fallen asleep. When she realized her head had been resting on her arms, and those in turn had been resting open the open book she had sworn she was just reading, she realized she had fallen asleep. "Oh." She yawned and stretched as the gears in her mind still continued to warm up and noticed a young guard standing over her. Her stance and physique gave her away as a woman. "Oh, hello there guard, uh what time is it?"

The female guard helped her up, offering her hand, "Lady Merle it'll going to be sunset soon, you've been asleep for half an hour or so, perhaps you'd sleep better in your own room? Word came back that through a runner that Lord Fanel is returning this night, you might want to be well rested to greet him back home." The guard bit her lips and waggled her eyebrows.

"Yes, good idea," Merle replied with a blush of embarrassment . "By the way, I didn't know we had female guards, I thought they only allowed men in the guard and army?"

The guard smiled, and Merle noticed that for all her armor, which looked old and worn and was missing a pauldron, the girl had bothered to wear lipstick. "Lord Fanel allowed a few of us girls into the guard army, even though some of the captains made a huge fuss about it." She shrugged and adjusted her armor, "Now if only they could tailor make us our equipment, we wouldn't have to share with the men. Nice fellows, but working in these all days leaves a terrible smell… mmh, maybe I shouldn't talk. Women sweat just like men do."

Merle laughed and picked up her books, adding "Well, women have other problems too."

"That we do Lady Merle." She shivered, shaking a repulsive thought from her mind. "I'd hate to… ugh, never mind."

She thanked the girl for waking her up, and wished her luck on her new job and promised to come by and visit the female guard group before turning back towards the castle, her books cradled in her arms as she went on her way. Stopping by the library and asking if she could keep the books for a while longer she continued towards her room where she immediately headed to her bed. "Have to remember… Lord Van comes back soon, need to…" Its familiarity and softness, as opposed to the cold grass of the garden floor, in addition to the recent nap, made her fall fast asleep.

* * *

Several of the new city guards, citizen volunteers who wore the old armors that survived Fanelia's destruction or had crafted their own homemade armors, nearly soiled their pants when they saw the large looming profile of an airship moving its way towards the city. Since most of them had not yet completed the full training courses, they had been posted along the town walls where they were not expected to encounter anything beyond their ability or beyond their ability to call for help from more seasoned guards. Of course even the seasoned veterans didn't have the equipment necessary to deal with an airship and so, in a mad scramble that the guards hadn't encountered since the manhunt for the recent murderer, several guards took up positions or manned the two ballistae that had been set up in towers along the castle walls while others ran towards the castle or military barracks. Soon afterwards eight guymelefs came stomping down the main road, scattering the villagers in their wake, and up towards the castle walls. There they waited for a few tense minutes until the ship came close enough to be seen through a telescope.

"That's the Escaflowne! It's Lord Fanel!" the guard cried out while peering through the nearby telescope before pausing, "Below him, on the ground our soldiers are back, they've got wounded and prisoners! Get them some aid, send out a detachment."

The city walls opened up and the returning soldiers marched in. By this time the commotion of several guymelefs with guards and soldiers massing at the city walls had attracted attention from the Fanelian population and when they recognized their returning soldiers they cheered. Word had gotten out about the Red Company and their conquest of one of their towns so the villagers knew what Van's recent military expedition had been about, seeing their soldiers returning home and surrounding several men in uniforms they didn't recognize, shadowed by an airship with the Escaflowne standing triumphantly atop it, they knew they had succeeded. They cheered and rushed forward to meet the soldiers, but stayed back and made way when they saw the Escaflowne jump off of the airship and transform into its dragon form, gasps rising from the crowd. It circled around a few times before coming down to rest in front of their soldiers.

"Good people of Fanelia!" he spoke out from atop his white dragon, "The terror of the Red Company is no more, they are shattered and dead or captured, humbled before you and ready to face justice and pay for their crimes! Guards take them directly to the prison," he turned towards the assembled medical personnel, "Please, tend to our wounded." With that he pulled the reins on the Escaflowne, turning it around like a horse, its giant frame turning just as gracefully for such a large war machine. He looked his commanding officer in the eye, who promptly kneeled before him. "As for the others, if there is no need for them they are now on a week's leave, they've deserved rest!"

The crowd cheered, and soldiers looked toward their own captains or officers and exchanged words, those that had no further duties or needed to escort the prisoners or injured were allowed leave and immediately ran towards the crowed, finding their families or loved ones amongst them and retiring into the festivities. Others were carried away in gurneys, people passing by and shaking their hand or giving them flowers or drinks of wine while overhead Fanelia's newly acquired airship headed towards the docks, its pilots and crew waving from the deck and viewports all the time.

As they did so, Van looked about searching for his own loved one.

"Lord Fanel!" a voice called out to him, and he turned to see a woman in guard's armor and recognized her as Maurrie from the "Woman's Brigade" that had recently been put together. She walked up to him with her head bowed, though he asked her to stand normally before him and addressed him again. "Lord Fanel, if you are looking for Lady Merle she retired to her room, you will surely find her there."

"Thank you miss, I will look for her now."

The crowd was suddenly hit with a gust of wind as the Escaflowne used its' large wings to lift off of the ground but soon continued on with their own things when they saw it head straight towards the castle, disappearing behind the main building.

* * *

"You're back." Merle said when she suddenly felt someone walk into her room.

"How'd you know it was me?" asked Van, still standing in the darkness, his eyes on Merle even through the darkness. Merle smiled when she heard a smile and imagined him putting on a face of hurt. "And here I was," he began, "ready to surprise my darling fiancée with a nice visit." Her ears picked up movement, his boots thudding against the floor as he walked to her bed and heard him throw them off before getting in her bed. At this Merle turned around, her eyes perfectly seeing even in the night, and embraced him tightly before kissing him.

"You know I had a terrible dream."

"What about?" he asked, corner in his voice.

Merle kissed him again before hugging him tighter. She reached under his shirt and hugged him that way, her arms holding his body directly, and she dug her head into her usual spot on his chest, taking in his scent. Her tail waved happily about as she felt his fingers run through her hair and she chuckled when she felt him play with her ears too. "That tickles." She giggled.

"What was your dream about?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter. You're here."

…

"By the way," she said, smiling in his chest. "while you were gone I was doing some work…"


	25. The First Guest

_**The First Guest**_

"You know, I really like what you two have got going on here," Dryden said as he lowered his cup of tea and looked at Van and Merle through his darkly tinted glasses. He flashed them his trademark smile, though both of them could tell it was genuine. "Really I do, you two look very relaxed with each other just there helping each other out, very natural. You two are in love and you show it, unlike some of the stuffier royals or nobles I've seen." Dryden takes in a deep breath and stretches his arms out, encompassing the throne room around him "And the vibes just roll off of you two and fill up the place, throne room with a desk pulled in at the last minute, papers everywhere and people coming in and out, no bowing or groveling at your feet for you to get things done. You just listen to them because they are people. If only everyone was so enlightened."

"Well," Van began, signing his name on a decree, Merle looking over his shoulder to read the signed paper, "Fanelia wouldn't exist without its people." He handed the paper over to Merle and pointed out the important areas to read, or how to sign her name. She nodded and compared it to a small stack of similar papers she had been collecting. "Besides," he added with a sigh, "I never liked how some countries are run or how they expect people to behave around their leaders. I want everyone here in Fanelia to know I'm just like them."

"That's good, that's real good. But, I'm sure you know I'm not here to talk to you about the interactions between royals and commoners. I'm here for you two." He stands up and walks around the table where they sat, and pulled them both into a hug, Van almost being pulled out of his chair. "I'm really happy for you two crazy kids. I always knew you were soft on the young king Merle," she said with a grin on his face. "I always rooted for you."

Merle raised an eyebrow, an incredulous look on her face. "You did? I thought… well I thought everyone expected Hitomi to-"

"Are you kidding me?" Dryden interrupted with a look, "I was rooting for you the entire time. There'd be no justice in the world if a nice girl like you never got her prince charming." He smiles as he watches Van and Merle, holding hands, give each other a warm look. "Well I won't ask how it happened since that's in the past, and we're not here to talk about your old lives. We're here to talk about your wedding and your new lives together. Tell me," he said, wagging his eyebrows, "how many kids?"

Merle stuttered and blushed, caught unawares by the question. When she finally calmed down enough to form a response her words died in her mouth.

"At least two." Van said, still holding Merle's hand and running his thumb over it. "What?"

Merle simply rolled her eyes and smiled. "Well Dryden, I didn't expect you to be the first person to show up, especially so soon. Wasn't it short notice for you?" Merle thought back on the two airships that were docked outside, they looked like his new trade fleet. "You weren't rescuing more mermaids were you?"

"No no, no mermaids this time. Just plain old business, my father wasn't quite pleased with all of my recent actions. First selling my first caravan fleet and then the whole marriage affair with Millerna. None too pleased. But what can he do? I was just out getting back his wealth for him, since he loves it so much. I-oh, looks like we have company." He pointed at Cassandra, who stands nervously at the doorway. Merle walks over to her and the two talk excitedly about something and soon smiles are drawn on their faces, Merle bounds back to Van and gives him a quick kiss.

"Lord Van, I'm going with Cassandra to get my wedding dress fitted!" she squeals in happiness. Van, however, doesn't see what the big deal is, and simply raises from his seat.

"Let's go get you fitted then. Dryden are you coming?"

"I don't quite think that's such a good idea Van."

"What? Why not? It's not far."

"Lord Van, you aren't supposed to see the bride's wedding dress until the wedding. So no, you aren't coming." She began strolling back to Cassandra, who now looked more comfortable standing near the king and his rich friend. "We'll be back, uh. How long will this take?" She then turned to her friend and the two whispered amongst each other for a while. "Oh right. Well, we'll be back by dinner. Alright, love you Lord Van, bye!" She leaned in and gave him another kiss before turning and walked, almost ran, out of the throne room with Cassandra in tow.

"Well that leaves just us men doesn't it?" Dryden replies after sipping his tea again. "By the way here's my wedding gift to you. I'll hand them to you know, because I'm sure you'll want to start using them as soon as possible." Van's eyebrows scrunched together as he attempted to guess at whatever gift Dryden was giving him and his confusion grew when Dryden produced a small writ of paper. "Here it is. Congratulations on your marriage Van," Dryden said again while handing him his gift, "I really hope you and your little lady have many years of happiness together. I know you'll do good to each other and to your people. And here, hopefully this will help you find that happiness."

"Thank you." Van said while taking the papers. Truthfully, he was touched by the man's words. True, he had, initially, thought of Dryden as simply any other man who had inherited wealth he didn't deserve but he quickly dropped that opinion. _After all, Dryden paid the cost to repair the Escaflowne, saving me in the process…_ His thoughts trailed off as he read the paper in his hand. The first part was much the same as he had said, a small note of congratulations on his upcoming wedding. There was even a small poem! Van smiled to himself, _Of course there is a poem, Dryden is the type to-_

_-give me his two airships?_

"What, Dryden I can't accept this."

"Of course you can, you need them, more importantly your people need them. I was at the docks and I know you've recently acquired a ship of your own, and I think these two will help you out even more. Especially since I noticed your current ship is a military model." Van suddenly tenses. It was odd, he thought, that he wanted to hide how he had acquired that frigate, how several men were dead, executed or rotting in cells awaiting execution. He didn't like it, but he knew Fanelia didn't have the resources to hold dangerous criminals or that it's people would even tolerate such men being held in its jails. Luckily he wouldn't have to defend his actions against his friend, since Dryden didn't notice his unease. "So… you've got a ship ready to start defending your boarders against whatever comes your way, and now with these two ships you can start spreading around resources to your people within those borders."

"That…" Van frowned. There wasn't anything he could say to that. _Three airships. That would be a great help, we'd be able to move around medicine to the towns farther away, or food, or soldiers._

"Trust me Van," Dryden spoke up again. "I can get more money and ships later, I don't even care about giving them away. You deserve them, Fanelia needs them. I've realized money isn't something to be hoarded and guarded like my father does, it's simply a means to an end. You share it around and help those less fortunate."

Van thought for a while before finally relenting. "Well then, on behalf of me, Merle and all the people of Fanelia, I accept your gift. Thank you." He raised his hand and offered a handshake.

Dryden had a huge grin on his face as he took the hand and shook it heartily. "Glad you finally see it my way. Besides, I already told the dock workers you okayed this when I got here a few hours ago."

* * *

"So who else is coming?"

Dryden and Van stood in the guest room where Dryden would be staying, with Dryden packing his belongings into the single dresser in the otherwise sparse room. Van had sheepishly told Dryden that there wasn't much to these guest rooms, since the only recent visitors to the castle, Allen and the crew of the _Crusade_, were soldiers and used to bare rooms. Van realized that Dryden, Prince Chid and Millerna might not be so accommodating.

"Well," he began,. "Allen and the _Crusade_ crew is all invited of course. Millerna and Prince Chid, you, Mole Man if we can find him…" He began mentally going over the list of people he wanted to be at his wedding, wondering if he'd forgotten anyone. "Merle is inviting a couple of her friends too. I guess that's it really. We decided we'd only invite our closest friends, we'd try to keep it a small affair."

"Uh, huh." Dryden said while rubbing the stubble on his chin. "And everyone in Fanelia is invited too right?"

"Of course." Van said immediately as he helped stack some of Dryden's reading books along a desk. "The wedding will be much like my coronation, or the weddings of all of Fanelia's rulers. It'll be in the castle front. The ceremony itself is pretty set and decided by tradition, though the future queens have always decorated and dressed as they wish."

"Oh, well that explains why Merle is running around while you are calm and cool. Just like always eh?"

"I'm actually very excited too. I honestly can't wait."

Dryden chuckled and patted the younger man on the shoulder. "Well you two won't have to wait long will you? When is the wedding planned?"

"Well, we are really just waiting for everyone to get here. Prince Chid is planned to arrive sometime in the next week, and Allen, Millerna and the _Crusade_ are arriving sometime in the next three days. The only one that worries me is Mole Man. He didn't really have a permanent residence, so we are just hoping the announcement will be enough to bring him here. Who knows, maybe he'll be arrested somewhere and I'll have to send him a letter in jail?"

"Ha, maybe. If you'll excuse me though, I think I should head up to your airship dock and talk to my crew and pay for their way back home, or pay for an inn nearby."

"There's no need." Van help up his hand. "We'll cover the expenses no matter which one you decide. I'd also like to see these two new airships of mine."

* * *

Van hadn't seen the docks this busy since the _Allegiance _had arrived for the first time. Workers and loading guymelefs were stationed around the two airships which Van immediately recognized as models meant for cargo hauling. Men were walking all along the ships, inspecting them or noting how much cargo capacity they held, noting faults or areas that needed repair. Some were already at work replacing the flags and colors with those of Fanelia.

"They are new," Dryden mentioned as he walked into Melcor's office, "that one there," he said while pointing through the window at one of the docked ships, "is called _I am Faithful _and the other one, the sister ship, is called _Softer Breeze Tomorrow."_

"What kind of names are those?" Melcor said with an obvious look of disgust. "Those are names for poems, not names for ships."

"Hah. Are you telling me you don't find anything poetic about sailing through the skies on a beautiful ship?" Dryden asked while looking over the ships one last time. He didn't mind giving them away, he was glad to donate them to a good cause, but that didn't mean he wouldn't miss their artful craftsmanship. "I bought these ships in Basram, they evidently have different tastes in ship name conventions than we do."

"We'll keep the names." Van said, and everyone inside the dock master's office knew the matter was settled. "Now, Melcor, how fast can these ships be in service? Do we have enough men to operate them?"

"Yes we do. These babies are actually made to be easy on the maintenance, operation and cargo moving. Unlike the bigger ships like the _Allegiance_ and other heavier ships, the…" he sighed, "_I am Faithful_ and _Softer Breeze Tomorrow_ are ships that can unload their cargo without a dock, ramp or any other dedicated structure. But uh, still wouldn't hurt if we ever got around to putting at least a small dock on the farther towns."

"Right, but that'll have to wait for another time." Van turned to an aide he had called to this impromptu meeting. "I'm putting you in charge of this. Coordinate with anyone you need, get the reports from the other towns, find out what they need and how much. Put it on these ships and send it to them." He then turned to an armored man, Berius the student of Henry and second in command of what meager forces Fanelia had at the moment. "Berius, I want you to staff the other ship as soon as possible and I want it operating even faster. I won't tolerate any sort of criminal activity at the moment. I want that ship up in the air, visible, armed and reminding everyone that they are safe and that we will _not_ have crime in our streets."

"Yes my lord." He said with a crisp salute, his armor clanking as he did so.

"Great, you all have jobs to attend to, now get to them. Fanelia needs us to be vigilant and tireless."

Dryden watched in amusement as the group filed out of the office, all of them already talking amongst each other about their newly assigned tasks and watched as each of them walked with an air of purpose about them.

"Wow, more power to you. You're young and you talk and get things done as if you've been a king for years. Old souls Van, old souls."

The young king smiled and looked towards the sky, noticing the impending sunset on the horizon. "It's nearly getting dark." _I guess I didn't notice how late it was. _"While we are out here, is there anything you want to do? We can head down to the markets if you want, or go back for dinner. I'd rather go back, I don't like missing dinner and I like eating in the castle cafeteria when everyone else does. But uh, if you want to go elsewhere?"

"Wow, you have fallen hard kid."

"What?"

"Don't hide it Van. You know quite well you want to go back, you're not hungry at all. When we traveled around I noticed you eat about as much as a guymelef does. You just want to go back because you want to see Merle again." He grinned and pointed at Van. "You know, I did always think you were that type. Tough and hard on the outside, but you turn as sappy and romantic as I do with the right girl. I can put off browsing the local stores and taking in the sights until tomorrow, let's get you back and see your little lady."

"What no!" Van said a bit more forcefully than he wanted to, flustered at being called so blatantly on his plan. "I was just being courteous, if you want to-"

Dryden smiled before raising his hands towards the sky, "THE THINGS A MAN IN LOVE GOES THROUGH!"

* * *

The cafeteria was less than full, though just as busy behind the scenes. Van knew why of course. "Whenever a big job is in the works," he explained to Dryden, who was expecting a more packed eating area, "like the time we were building the docks up on the mountain side, or intentionally collapsing a few buildings and now with the three ships being added to what is Fanelia's first airship fleet, the cafeteria is emptier than usual. The people working on the projects send their friends, or someone who simply has some free time, to come down here to and get their orders of food."

"Huh. A lot of women and older men here, I'm assuming these are people who can't work on the harder projects that require 24 hour shifts right?"

"Yes," Van said between bites to his sandwich, "most of the men are either employed or volunteering for the heavier labor jobs, so older folks and women are doing all the other work, for the most part." Van paused and returned to a thought he had been mulling over for several weeks now. With most of the men away from jobs that were traditionally held for men he wondered what would happen when everything returned to normal and the men came back to find women in jobs that weren't traditionally held by them. _Oh well, we'll cross that bridge when it gets here._ "Some of these are also just people who can't feed themselves. We have free food for anyone who shows up, they have priority over those with money… I still don't see Merle around here and I'm getting worried."

"Listen to you, you do already sound like an old married man. Worrying about his wife when she doesn't show up for dinner. Relax, maybe she's still doing something to her dress, or she stopped to fix her hair. Maybe she decided to have dinner over with her friend, who knows? I'm sure she's fine Van. Enjoy your food."

"Well, if she doesn't get here on time they might run out of her jelly rolls, they're her favorite you know?" He looked up from his plate and spied on the lunch line before excusing himself from the table. "I'll be back, I'm going to get some food for her."

"Alright, I'll be here." Dryden replied, smirking behind his glasses. He watched his young friend depart towards the lunch line. "Ah, young love." He muttered to himself, "And speak of the devil."

"What?" The young catgirl before him asked, a confused look on her face. "Hey, where's Lord Van?"

"You just missed him Merle, but don't worry your tail off, he'll be back soon." Underneath the table he kicked back a chair, startling Merle as it pushed back into her. "Here, why don't you sit down and wait for him?"

"Yeah, I guess I will." She sat down and noticed a small tray of food before her, and her nose immediately picked up Van's smell. "Oh." She said, knowing immediately that this was his tray. "So," she said as she took Van's unfinished sandwich and started eating it. "What did you two do today? Guy things no doubt."

"Yeah, guy things. We went to burlesque houses and gambled away our money."

"Hahaha, yeah, and I bet Lord Van is with some other woman right now, doi-ugh, I can't even finish that sentence."

"I'm glad you can't Merle."

With a gasp Merle turned around and threw herself onto Van, who was surprised at the sudden action. Merle tiptoed up and kissed her fiancé before turning back and allowing him to sit back down. When he did she drew her own chair right next to his and wrapped her arms around his, hugging and humming softly. "Thank you Lord Van, ah my favorite." Suddenly she perked up even more and turned her head upwards to speak to her love. "Oooh Lord Van, I hope you like my dress, I think it's sooo beautiful! I really can't wait to get married to you Lord Van." She suddenly grabbed his head and pulled him down into a deep kiss, broken only because Dryden started politely coughin.

"Well… I don't think I should be here, don't want to be a third wheel in your love carriage. So," he stood up and picked up his tray, the only things left on it a small napkin and his empty cup. "I think I'll be retiring to my room today so goodnight you two lovebirds."

"Goodnight Dryden, we'll see you tomorrow."

"Merle?"

"Mmmh?"

It had been several minutes since Dryden had left the two, and the cafeteria was beginning to clear out ast he night went on. Only a few tables here and there were still occupied, populated only by the late night owls of Fanelia, their chatter soft and indistinct. Van and Merle had been left in silence, with Merle happily eating the jelly rolls Van had gathered for her. It was only after a while that Van's curiosity got the better of him. He knew Merle, if she was excited she'd be talking his ear off right now, not that he'd mind, and yet here she was simply sitting and humming. If that's what she wanted to do he didn't mind, as long as he was with her he didn't mind anything, but he did find it odd.

"You're awfully quite tonight aren't you? Got something on your mind?"

Merle, who had since moved into Van's lap, simply nodded and continued humming. Had a soft melody not have been coming from her, Van might have mistaken her for being asleep with her closed eyes, restful position and stillness. Her head rested on his chest, rising and falling gently as he breathed. "Just one thing really, you. Lord Van, today when I saw myself in that dress, with my hair done, imagining that crown being put on my head, you slipping a ring on my finger I…" her voice cracked, and for a second Van thought she was crying though he couldn't be sure, "Lord Van, I love you soo much. I, you don't know how happy I was when I wore that dress, how happy I'll be when I'll wear it for reals."

Merle calmed herself down, realizing that she was indeed close to crying. _He still doesn't know how long I've wanted this. Oooh, calm down girl. Don't freak him out by crying, you know he's not good with crying women._ She patted his chest to let him know she wanted to stand up, and sprung out of his grasp. She gave out a fake yawn and pretended to rub her eyes in tiredness, a ruse to clear away the small tears that had formed. "Ah, well Lord Van, I'm tired. You wouldn't know how tiring it is to stand real still while someone takes your measurements for several hours straight. Take me back to my room?" She managed the sweetest smile she could, which was easy considering her mood. Van gathered both their trays and went back towards the serving line, dropping off the trays and thanking the cooks while Merle waited for him by the exit. She watched him all the way, humming the traditional Fanelian marriage song all the while. When he came back to her he offered her his hand, which she immediately took, and they walked back towards her room.

"Do you know what Dryden gave us as a wedding gift?"

"No, what? Glasses? Some of those weird coats he wears all the time?"

"He gave us two airships."

"Woah, that's… well that's not really _that_ surprising. I mean, remember how he paid for the Escaflowne's repairs?" Merle's hold on Van's hand unconsciously tightened, remembering the terrible fear she felt as she watched Van writhe in pain.

"Yes, I've never properly thanked him for that. And now this, you know I'm probably the most indebted to him out of everyone. He's spent what? 10 ships on me?"

Merle shrugged as they began up the stairs that led to her room. "He's like that. He's weird, but he's probably one of the only rich persons that I'm ok with. He doesn't seem to care much about his money either, but not in a bad way. Oh, home sweet home." She giggled, her tail playfully wagging behind her. "Well, it won't by my home for much longer huh?" She jumped up and wrapped her arms and legs around Van, who caught her immediately. She leaned in and kissed him again and again as her heart fluttered. "You want to come in?" Her eyes flashed him her intentions and Van smiled and kissed her.

"Sure."

With that he opened the door to her room with one hand, while his other moved towards the clasps that held her dress up and once they passed through the doorway, he used his foot to close the door behind them.


End file.
